County's infection rate slows for first time in 2021
A nurse prepares to take a sample at a COVID 19 testing centre. Pic: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire - Credit: PA
Norfolk's Covid-19 infection rate has seen a daily decrease for just the second time in a month - but still remains in excess of 500 cases per 100,000 people.
In the latest figures made available by Public Health England - for the seven days ending January 5 - every local authority area in the county saw a decrease in its infection rate.
And Norfolk's overall infection rate also saw a decline, from 531.9 cases per 100,000 people to 502.8.
However, for all local authority areas and the county as a whole, the week-on-week comparison makes much starker reading, with all rates significantly higher than the weekend ending January 29.
It is, though, the second time in a month that the rate has decreased - with the last time this happened coming on Christmas Day, when the rates fell from 278.71 to 250.95.
And excluding Christmas Day, you have to go back exactly a month today to find the last time rates slowed, going from 108.95 to 104.98 from December 8 to December 9.
The most significant decrease came in Great Yarmouth, which saw its rate of 682.5 for the weekend ending January 4, slip by 61.4 to 621.1. However, its week-on-week comparison saw a jump from 397.6 cases per 100,000 for the week ending January 29.
And it comes against a backdrop of hospitals under pressure and fears that care homes are too under the cosh, with council bosses warning they may have to prepare reserve staff force to be on standby.
And on January 7, the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston recorded its greatest number of deaths related to Covid-19 in a single day, when seven patients lost their fights with the virus - including a 40-year-old man who had no known underlying health issues.
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Meanwhile, in East Suffolk there was a slight day-to-day increase between January 4 and 5 - from 450.2 to 459 cases per 100,000 people.
The infection rates for Norfolk and Waveney for the week ending January 5 are as follows:
- Breckland: 532.3
- Broadland: 584.2
- East Suffolk: 459
- Great Yarmouth: 621.1
- King's Lynn and West Norfolk: 471.7
- North Norfolk: 391.1
- Norwich: 498.7
- South Norfolk: 435.1
- Norfolk overall: 502.8
- England overall: 646.2
