Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration gave the following update on COVID-19 issues relating to the Borough:

·  Since the start of the pandemic there had been 3,430 positive cases of COVID-19 in the Borough.  The rate was now above London average, at 244 cases per 100,000.  In the last week there had been 520 new cases.

·  Testing was increasing at the five sites in the Borough; however, more was needed.  The capacity at the testing centres was currently at 40% utilisation.  Rapid testing was to be undertaken in the Borough in the next few weeks, which would enable a greater percentage of residents to came forward to be tested;

·  The increasing rate that the virus was spreading was worrying and outbreaks were taking place all over the Borough.  Hot spots were moving from week to week, possibly due to a lack of self-isolation for those who had tested positive;

·  The highest case rate by age was for the 45-64 years old group, although it was noted that there were high levels across all ages.  With regard to ethnicity, there was no over-representation of any one group and Covid-19 statistics were generally reflective of local population breakdown;

·  Sadly, there had now been 190 deaths in the Borough, which was 11.8% more deaths than would have been expected;

·  The Council was undertaking local contact tracing where the national test and trace system had failed; and

·  It was extremely important for residents to abide by the rules and self-isolate when required.