COVID rates are falling faster in Winchester district than anywhere else in Hampshire, today s figures confirm. The district is now in the top ten per cent of districts for infection rates with only 26 out of 315 in the UK doing better, and none in Hampshire. The
Chronicle has reported the daily figures since last summer and was first to report the trend for declining infection rates around three weeks ago. All parts of the Winchester district are now below the England average as rates improve in
Winchester East, Whiteley Knowle and Wickham, and
Bishop s Waltham and Waltham Chase. But infection rates are climbing in
FURTHER evidence Covid-19 is on the retreat in Winchester. The Chronicle has reported the daily figures since last summer and reporting the trend for the numbers to decline around three weeks ago. Now for the first time in weeks no schools in the Winchester district have reported a case in the last 10 days, the only authority in Hampshire to do so. But there are some relative hotspots where Covid is persisting and above the England average: Winchester East, Whiteley Knowle and Wickham and Bishop s Waltham and Waltham Chase. In
Winchester East, which covers part of the city centre, Winnall, Highcliffe and Bar End, the rolling seven-day rate per 100,000 rose from 282 the Sunday before last to 405 today, although down from 417 yesterday. In Winchester East in the seven days to Wednesday January 21 there were 35 new cases, up 12, an increase of 57 per cent.
Sarum Health Group is leading the programme. Currently, there are Covid vaccination centres operating at The Lights Theatre and Andover War Memorial Hospital. Vaccinations will be offered to people in line with recommendations from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), with the NHS contacting people when it is their turn. Dr Chet Sheth, GP Partner at Sarum Health Group, said: “This is the biggest advancement in medicine that we’ve had for many years. The virus is killing so many people it is an amazing feat to have developed a vaccine that can prevent so much harm.
In the last week 15 deaths have been reported, up from one in the previous seven days. Across Hampshire there is a similar picture with 146 deaths reported by the NHS, compared to 71 in the seven days before. These fatalities would have been people contracting the virus several weeks ago when the number of cases was rising fast. Forty-nine people have been reported to have died across Hampshire County Council area, so excluding Southampton and Portsmouth, in the last 24 hours. Winchester is now the only district in Hampshire, and one of only two in the south-east, along with West Berkshire, not coloured either purple or black on the official Government map. Its area is now a blue hole in a ring of purple. It means its infection rate is now below 400 per 100,000 people for the first time since the seven days to Christmas Eve.