'Cornwall is not over coronavirus yet': Message from health officials as rates fall
People are being urged to still follow the guidance
Cornwall is not over the coronavirus pandemic yet.
That is the message from public health officials in the Duchy as people are urged to maintain social distancing amid the vaccine rollout.
Director of Public Health for Cornwall, Rachel Wigglesworth, has issued an update on our Covid infection rates locally.
She says everything is heading in the right direction, but we all need to maintain physical distancing and regular handwashing to keep the numbers low.
"We have reduced our rates in Cornwall, people have done really well in bringing them down from around 360 per 100, 000 in a week, to now around 12 per 100,000. People have worked really well to reduce contact and stay at home and reduce the risk of infection in Cornwall.
"But living with this disease for over a year now, I think may of us have had experiences of knowing people who've been affected or seriously unwell with this disease, it's a nasty disease, and we are still not over that yet.
"So the message I want to share with people is that we need to continue to go slowly out of lockdown, even in Cornwall, and we need to continue washing hands, keeping distance, and reducing social contact, and at the moment still staying at home."
Rachel Wigglesworth, Director of Public Health for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
It comes as the number of recorded coronavirus cases in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has increased by 13 in the last 24 hours.
Public Health England figures show that 13,855 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Wednesday (March 17th) in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, up from 13,842 the same time on Tuesday.
The health body is now including Pillar 2 tests – those carried out by commercial partners – alongside Pillar 1 tests, which are analysed in NHS or PHE laboratories and which made up the first stage of the Government's mass testing programme.
The rate of infection in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly now stands at 2,423 cases per 100,000 people, far lower than the England average of 6,646.
Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 5,758 over the period, to 4,274,579.
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly's cases were among the 215,233 recorded across the South West, a figure which rose by 251 over the period.
Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died.
You can find the source data here.