Northamptonshire health chief's fresh lockdown plea after record rise in Covid-19 cases

"These are not false numbers, this is not fake news...This is a serious issue here and now," says county director.
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Health chiefs issued a fresh plea to make the lockdown count after Northamptonshire saw another record number of positive Covid-19 tests.

Labs confirmed more than 100 positive swabs in a single day in Northampton for the first time since the pandemic began.

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Tuesday's figures issued by the Government's coronavirus data dashboard showed results from 249 people who had tested positive for coronavirus in the latest 24-hour reporting period — the seventh day in a row the figure has risen above 200.

The figure for Northampton was 113 with other big jumps in Kettering Corby, East Northants, Daventry and South Northamptonshire.

Weekly numbers of new cases are around 50 per cent up across the county while three deaths among coronavirus patients at Northampton General Hospital were confirmed by NHS England on Tuesday.

Current national lockdown restrictions imposed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson last Thursday will end on December 2 with plans to return to a local, tiered system if infection rates are brought under control.

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But, speaking at a Northamptonshire Police Facebook Q&A, the county's health director Lucy Wightman said: "There were 100 coronavirus cases by Monday in our hospitals and we've seen ten deaths in the last seven days.

Current lockdown restrictions are due to end on December 2Current lockdown restrictions are due to end on December 2
Current lockdown restrictions are due to end on December 2

"These are not false numbers, this is not fake news. This is a serious issue here and now.

"This isn't going away, it's escalating quite significantly and if we don't get on top of the virus we're never going to get back to to what we consider to be normality.

"The Government have not given us an exit strategy yet and we are waiting for clarity on that. But the more compliant people are now in utilising this four-week period, the more likely we are to be in a position to come out of lockdown in a good position on December 2 and give us a greater longer-term possibility of seeing our loved ones."

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The number of new positive tests reported in Northamptonshire in seven days to November 10 was 1,588. The previous week's figure was 1,091.

How the infection rate has risen across Northamptonshire during the last week, according to Government figures. Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/casesHow the infection rate has risen across Northamptonshire during the last week, according to Government figures. Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases
How the infection rate has risen across Northamptonshire during the last week, according to Government figures. Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases

Figures in the county's seven districts and boroughs were:

Northampton 605 (last week 416); East Northants 230 (167); South Northants 200 (131); Kettering 170 (93); Daventry 169 (106); Wellingborough 119 (112); Corby 95 (66).

Officials allow a four-day lag before announcing official numbers as daily figures are subject to correction. But they give a strong indication of which way the infection rate is trending.

Data analysts compare the spread of the virus in diffierent areas by taking the number of weekly positive Covid-19 tests, divide it by the population and multiply by 100,000 to find what is termed the infection rate.