Plymouth's COVID-19 infection rate one of lowest in England
The city's director of public health says the latest figures show 74 cases per 100,000
The rate of Covid-19 infections has continued to fall in Plymouth from a peak in mid-January.
The city’s director of public health Ruth Harrell said the latest figures showed a rate of 74 cases per 100,000, compared to an average of 131 for the South West and 200 for England.
The infection rate in the city has dropped from a high of more than 300 per 100,000 in mid-January, and figures show the lockdown has been effective in reducing the rate of spread and the number of people needing hospital treatment.
Dr Harrell said the figures put Plymouth among the areas with the lowest Covid-19 infection rates in the country at 308 out of 343 top-tier local authorities.
"We’ve now seen a very strong reduction, we’ve gone down very rapidly, which is fantastic news. Though this is really positive news, we do need to remember that the rates are still very high, and the infection is still widespread in our communities."
Dr Ruth Harrell - Director of Public Health in Plymouth
The director warned that the highest infection rate was currently among working age adults, which was to be expected in a city with businesses working during the lockdown.
She said there were now more than 60 people with Covid-19 in Derriford Hospital, down from more than 100 at the peak of the second wave.
Dr Harrell said: "The indicators are going in the right direction at the moment, that lockdown has made that significant impact that we really needed to see."
The director said that while people were concerned about new variants of the virus, they were controlled by the same hygiene measures of washing hands, wearing a mask and social distancing, and following lockdown rules.
She said the current vaccines were effective at reducing severe disease in any of the strains discovered, and they could be adapted to respond to future variants.