Covid-19: 520 further cases in Brighton and Hove

A total of 33,683 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Brighton and Hove when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated yesterday.

While the rate of infection in the city now stands at 11,546 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 13,254.

There were no new coronavirus deaths recorded over the weekend in Brighton and Hove.

The dashboard shows 403 people had died in the area by October 25 (Monday) – which was unchanged from Friday.

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It means there has been one death in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 18,221 deaths recorded across the South East.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Brighton and Hove.

The figures also show that two-thirds of people in Brighton and Hove have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Cases have risen by 520 over the weekend.

The latest figures show 193,406 people had received both jabs by October 24 (Sunday) – 66% of those aged 12 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 79% of people aged 12 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Last week, the British Medical Association accused the government of being “wilfully negligent” for not reimposing some measures to tackle Covid, such as mandatory face coverings.

However, the government has said it will not introduce so-called Plan B measures “at this point”.

This would include compulsory face coverings in some areas and encouraging people to work from home where possible, as well as powers to introduce vaccine passports.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the plan will only be activated if the NHS begins to come under “significant pressure”.

He said: “We knew the coming months would be challenging.

“We will be very carefully monitoring hospitalisation rates, admission rates, ICU (intensive care unit) rates, the usual metrics we have used through this pandemic to judge how our NHS is coping.

“Obviously we won’t hesitate to act if needed.”

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