Agenda item

To receive an update on the current status of COVID-19 infections and deaths within West Berkshire and nationally

Matt Pearce introduced a report that sought to outline the latest position of Covid-19 in West Berkshire. He stated that the report included the most up to date information on Covid-19 in West Berkshire. He noted that the report would be broken down into a number of sections:       

·       Data flow: He stated that there had been a vast improvement in the amount of data now available in West Berkshire. He stated that West Berkshire Council (WBC) was now receiving exceedance reports, where Public Health England (PHE) looked at a range of measures and informed the Council if the number of cases in West Berkshire exceeded what would be expected. He also noted that PHE publish a number of weekly reports, including postcode-level data and contact tracing. On a regional level, WBC received weekly reports from PHE South East on potential clusters and outbreaks. He further stated that WBC have access to NHS 111 information which acts as a further indicator to any potential outbreaks. Finally, he stated that local intelligence partners were crucial as they could potentially help spot outbreaks before they reached the system

·       National data: He stated that as of 30 July 2020 there had now been over 300,000 lab confirmed cases of Covid-19. He stated that there had also been 45,961 deaths related to Covid-19 across the UK as of 30 July 2020.

·       Regional data: He stated that death Covid-19 was having a bigger impact on older generations and those from ethnic minority backgrounds, and he stated that WBC was looking at how it could support and engage with these groups through prevention and response to any potential outbreak in the Local Outbreak Plan. He further noted that the highest number of deaths in hospitals were in London, the North West and the midlands.

·       Local cases: He stated that from the 2^nd of July, the data would include pillar 1 and pillar 2. Pillar 1 data included tests that have taken place in hospitals, whereas pillar 2 data included local community tests, which were taking place at Newbury Showground for West Berkshire. As of 30 July 2020, there were 492 residents in West Berkshire who had test positive. Across Berkshire as a whole there had been 3,372, where Reading had reported the most cases, although he did note that the demographics of the boroughs were different. He also highlighted that a number of people would be asymptomatic which would lead to an under-estimation of the true number of cases. He further noted that detection rates in West Berkshire were low and in the two weeks prior to 30 July 2020 there had been 14 confirmed new cases. Since the beginning of the outbreak, the total COVID19 cases detected in West Berkshire stands at 310 cases per 100,000 people. This number was lower than the national and regional average. He also touched on the weekly rate change in West Berkshire, he stated that whilst West Berkshire has seen an increase in the weekly rate of cases per 100,000, the numbers were relatively small which can reflect large percentage changes.

·       Death rates: He stated that COVID-19 related deaths in comparison to Bracknell, Windsor & Maidenhead, West Berkshire reported a similar rate (84 per 100,000 persons) Maidenhead and Wokingham (between 1^st March and 31^st May). He also noted that there had been no deaths in recent weeks. Furthermore, he noted that the lowest COVID-19 Death Rate in the country was in North Lincolnshire- 19 per 100,000 and the highest COVID-19 Death Rate in the country was in Brent at 211 per 100,000. He further noted that the excess deaths in West Berkshire over the Covid-19 period stood at 116, but that this had now come down to a normal level. He also stated that The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (which serves all residents across Berkshire including those in West Berkshire) had reported 187 deaths related to COVID-19 as of 29 July 2020. In addition, The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBHFT) and neighbouring trust (Frimley) both had lower rates of COVID-19 deaths compared to the worst-affected Trusts in England.

·       Summary: He stated that there had been 493 total cases in West Berkshire to date and that the cumulative rate of cases is 310 per 100,000 which was lower than South East and England average. He further noted that there had been 14 new cases over the last 14-days in West Berkshire and that the current weekly rate in West Berkshire of new cases was 5.7 per 100,000 compared to 3.2 the previous week. Furthermore, 131 Covid-19 deaths and 569 deaths from all causes, which appeared to be significantly higher compared to the 5-year average. He also stated that almost 50% of deaths from COVID-19 occurred in a care home, but that the overall number of COVID-19 deaths was falling and there had been no detectable excess mortality since mid-May.

Councillor Martha Vickers asked what had been done around communications and engagement with younger generations.

Matt Pearce stated that nationally some transmission had been due to asymptomatic younger generations passing the virus on, but that the issue of communicating with these groups would be dealt with in the communications update.