Covid cases declining in Telford while Shropshire hits six-month low

There were 33 new cases reported for the borough during the seven days from March 29 to April 4, compared to 49 cases in the previous seven-day period.

The infection rate is now significantly lower than the regional and national average.

For the week ending April 4, there were 33 Covid-19 cases reported – a 33 per cent decrease compared to the week prior.

The seven-day infection rate for Telford & Wrekin was last recorded at 18 cases of Covid per 100,000 people.

This compares to 18.9 for Shropshire during the closest comparable week, 35 for the West Midlands and 32 for England.

There have been no further deaths of patients with the coronavirus, with the death toll in Telford & Wrekin standing at 256.

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The latest comparable figures for the Shropshire Council area show that the Covid case rate has hit a six-month low.

Liz Noakes, Telford & Wrekin's director of public health, said: "A big thank you to all our residents for following the rules throughout these challenging months and helping to bring the case numbers down in our borough.

“As many restrictions continue to be eased we must continue to be cautious and play our part to avoid higher numbers again.”

Councillor Andy Burford, cabinet member for health and social care, added: "It’s up to us to stay on track and keep the case numbers low as restrictions ease.

“And it’s now even more in our control – we urge everyone in the borough to please make use of the range of local centres available and get tested twice a week, if they are feeling well.

“You can collect home test kits for testing in the comfort of your own home – it’s quick, easy to do and provides peace of mind to know you and your family are protect.

“Learning to live with Covid-19 and playing our part to protect each other is the way forward.”

Fall

Meanwhile, the latest comparable figures for Shropshire show that the Covid case rate has hit a six-month low.

During the seven-day period between March 26 and April 1, there were 61 new cases reported, a decrease of 31 cases or 33 per cent to the previous week.

Of the total, eight per cent were linked to care homes, 30 per cent relate to people under the age of 30 and two per cent relate to people aged 70 and over.

During the seven days, 30 per cent of the cases were in the Shrewsbury & Atcham area, 32 per cent were in North Shropshire and 38 per cent were in South Shropshire.

Rachel Robinson, Shropshire Council’s director of public health, said: “Thanks to the efforts of everyone across Shropshire, we are continuing to see the number of cases of Covid-19 fall across our communities.

“We’ve all worked hard over the past 12 months to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases in Shropshire. It’s important we don’t let our guard down, and that we continue with efforts to make sure we are not spreading the virus, as we start to head out of the house more.

“We would still like to see our infection rates fall even further, and so we are still urging people to get tested regularly. From next week, rapid testing kits (Lateral Flow Tests) will be available for collection from more sites across Shropshire, including local libraries and leisure centres. We are encouraging everyone to test twice a week. This is in addition to secondary school pupils, parents and frontline workers, who have already being doing this.

“The further easing of restrictions from the third lockdown on Monday is another another welcome step towards normality, but we need to take things slowly as we’re not out of the woods yet.

“We can hopefully enjoy a few more freedoms with this set of eased restrictions, but please remember to stick to the ‘hands, face, space’ basics, and I would also encourage people to stay local.”