Agenda item

Matt Pearce provided an update on the Covid-19 situation in West Berkshire. He stated that all data presented was correct as of Sunday November 8 2020. He also noted that the slides being presented were now in line with the rest of Berkshire and would be published on the Berkshire Public Health website.

New National Restrictions from Thursday November 5^th:

·       All Berkshire local authorities are following the new national restrictions from Thursday 5^th November.

·       This had replaced the local three-tier coronavirus alert system (Tiers 1, 2 and 3).

Situational awareness:

• He noted that the positivity rates per 100,000 had risen across all Berkshire authorities compared to the previous week and now stood at 104.8 per 100,000 population, which is higher than the week before and higher than the week before that.

·       The positivity rate was 6.3%

• The number of new cases in the last 7 days was 166

Epidemiology of cases:

• There has been a total of 8,912 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Berkshire. 47% (4,186) of these cases have occurred since the beginning of October. Berkshire’s weekly rate has continued to increase over this time, although it has remained significantly lower than the national rate.
• He noted that the number of cases was beginning to plateau and level out, which would hopefully lead to a reduction in time.

Over the 14 days (20^th October to 2^nd November) there were 1,830 cases confirmed for Berkshire residents:

·       10% of cases were confirmed through Pillar 1 testing and 90% through Pillar 2 testing

·       50% were female and 49% male (8 cases were unknown)

·       53% were from a White background, 30% from a BAME group and 17% had no ethnicity information recorded

West Berkshire

• He noted that data on confirmed Covid-19 cases are available at a Middle Super Output Area (MSOA), which covers areas with populations between 5,000-15,000. He highlighted the need for caution with this data as it was based on small numbers. He stated that there was no sign of any hotspots, but he was constantly keeping a close eye on the data to flag up any potential problems.  

Deaths

• There have been 137 COVID-19 related deaths in West Berkshire during the pandemic. 
• 2 deaths were recorded for the last 2 weeks (10^th – 23^rd Oct).
• Since March 2020, West Berkshire’s all-cause mortality rate has been 24% higher than the previous 5 year average, which equates to 176 additional deaths.

Hospital activity

• Hospital activity information was not available for Berkshire hospitals or residents in a format that can be shared publicly. The information on this page therefore shows the latest data for the NHS South East Region.
• On 3^rd November, 676 patients were in hospital with COVID-19 in the South East. 41 of these were on mechanical ventilation. The hospital admission rate continues to increase, although at a slower pace than the national picture.

Test and Trace:

·       Cases complete by the NTAT and contacts advised to isolate.

·       Cumulative data up to 9th November 2020:

Outbreaks:

·       An outbreak is defined by PHE as two or more cases with highly probable or confirmed epidemiological links. For care home settings one case counts as an outbreak.

·       Number of new outbreaks in West Berkshire by setting (1st - 8th November:

Summary

• West Berkshire has had 1,239 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far and 166 of these have been over the last 7 days (27th – 3rd Nov).
• The weekly rate is currently at 104.8 per 100,000 population.
• 2 deaths were recorded for the last 2 weeks (10th – 23rd Oct).
• Since March 2020, West Berkshire’s all-cause mortality rate has been 24% higher than the previous 5 year average, which equates to 176 additional deaths.
• We continue to see a number of outbreaks across schools, care homes, workplaces and health settings.
• We will have to wait a couple of weeks to see what impact the national restrictions will have on infection rates

Councillor Vickers asked if the data on cases in over 60’s was correct at the last meeting as it had shot up.

Matt Pearce stated that it was correct, but it had increased unfortunately.

Councillor Masters