Northamptonshire’s Covid-19 weekly briefing: ‘Solid improvement but no room for complacency’

Local authority figures are encouraged by reducing case rates of Covid-19 in Northamptonshire, but say there is no room for complacency.

At the weekly Covid-19 press briefing today (February 12), figures revealed that cases numbers in all seven boroughs in the county have decreased compared to figures released last week.

Across the whole county, total case numbers are down 61 percent in comparison to the recent peak in the week beginning January 4 this year, following relaxation of rules during the Christmas period.

As well as decreasing case numbers, hospital chiefs are also reporting a decrease in Covid-positive patient numbers.

As of today (January 12), across Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals, there are 193 Covid-positive patients, 38 of which are recovered and waiting for onward care or are being treated for something else.

The leader of Northampton Borough is encouraged by these numbers and is pleased by the ‘solid improvement, however he wants to make it clear to residents that now is not the time to relax.

Councillor Nunn said: “Reflecting on the stats, it’s really encouraging to see that acceleration in the reduction of case rates and let’s hope that continues as it is.

“We’ve heard about the enormous progress being made in Northamptonshire on the vaccinations, seeing a decrease in deaths is important too.

“What those figures tell us is that there are people who are still alive this week as a result of progress that has been made.

“They otherwise would not have been and I think that is really something to celebrate positively there.

“Thanks to all the residents and businesses that continue this long slog to comply with the restrictions because we really can say we are making some solid progress now, but there is obviously no room for complacency or no room to relax.

“The impact of those precautions and the hard work people are putting in is really starting to pay off.”

Lucy Wightman, director of Public Health Northamptonshire, also confirmed at the briefing that there has not been any confirmed cases of the South African variant of the disease in the county, although there have been confirmed cases of the ‘highly transmissible’ Kent variant.

Ms Wightman said: “The South African variant is known to pose challenges should it get a hold of the case rate.

“I’m pleased at this point in time to confirm that we do not have and have not had any South African variants confirmed here.

“Any suspected variants are reported to us and investigated fully and as I said I can confirm we have not had any and none are under investigation either.

“There are other variants under investigation.

“What is clear is that we do have the Kent variant and that is up to 70 percent more transmissible and we do know that it is having an impact on morbidity and mortality.”

Find out more about Northamptonshire's vaccination roll-out here.

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