The latest weekly coronavirus data from Public Health Dorset shows that cases have begun to rise across both the Dorset Council area and the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council area and the number in hospital with Covid-19 has increased as well.
The national restrictions in November did drive cases down across both council areas but now the downward trend in Dorset has levelled off and is starting to rise.
In Swanage, in the last seven days to 13th December 2020, there were fewer than two confirmed cases, which is good news but considering the picture across the county, health officials are urging us to stick to the guidance to prevent coronavirus spreading and risking an increase in cases.
Public Health Dorset data 6th to 12th December 2020
Confirmed cases in last 7 days
- Dorset: 174 (compared to 150 last week)
- BCP: 340 (compared to 249 last week)
- South West: 5,246
- England: 116,283
7 day case rates per 100,000
- Dorset: 46.0 (compared to 39.6 last week)
- BCP: 86.0 (compared to 63.0 last week)
- South West: 93.3
- England: 206.6
Hospitals in Dorset
- Current Covid-19 patients in hospital beds in Dorset: 98 (compared to 88 last week)
“Completely understand just how disappointed some people will be”
Responding to the latest data, the Director of Public Health Dorset, Sam Crowe said:
“That’s disappointing because as we came out of lockdown, we made huge progress in getting our infection rates down but unfortunately because they’ve started to rise, that’s one of the reasons why the government took the decision yesterday to keep both areas in Tier 2.
“I can completely understand just how disappointed some people will be that we remain in Tier 2 but looking at the public health data and the epidemiology, what we know is, that if we don’t have measures in place to limit social mixing, our infection rates are likely to rise.
“The other set of data that they’ll be looking at is the impact on our local health and care system and again the local hospital continues to be under pressure, so that was another factor in the decision.”
Christmas bubbles
With the Covid restrictions easing across England for Christmas from Wednesday 23rd to Sunday 27th December 2020, Sam Crowe urged everyone to follow the national guidance to keep safe:
“I think the chief medical officer (Chris Whitty) summed it up best when he said, please do your best to keep it small, keep it short and above all, keep it local.”
Watch the latest Covid update from Director of Public Health Dorset, Sam Crowe
Further information
- Public Health Dorset’s latest data is available on its website
- To find out the latest data for Swanage and any other part of the UK, there is now a postcode checker on the government’s website
