Cambridge has highest Covid-19 infection rate in England - but it is falling
Latest data shows Cambridge has the highest confirmed rate of Covid-19 infection in England.
That is despite the number of reported cases in the city declining by more than 30 per cent compared to the previous week.
Following the end of universal free testing on April 1, it has become harder to tell how much the decline in cases relates to a drop off in the level of infection in the community and how much reflects a fall in the number of people taking tests and reporting the results.
There were 353 cases reported in the seven days to April 24 in Cambridge, down 154 (30.4 per cent) on the previous week, leaving the infection rate at 282.3 cases per 100,000 people.
Nationally, confirmed cases were down 43.3 per cent and the infection rate was reported at 199.9 cases per 100,000 people.
But testing has declined significantly now that most people have to pay. Lateral flow tests remain available from pharmacies for a couple of pounds.
In Cambridge, 626 test results - covering PCR and lateral flow tests - were reported on Thursday (April 28), with 620 the day before. A month earlier, on March 28, 2,623 test results were reported.
However, there are some signs that the underlying infection rate is genuinely falling from the drop in the proportion of people who test positive when taking a PCR test. In the seven days to April 22, 4.7 per cent of the 1,708 people taking a PCR test in Cambridge were shown to have Covid-19.
This has fallen significantly from the week to March 28, when 20.7 per cent of the 4,537 people taking a PCR in the city were found to have the virus.
And in the week to April 24, Addenbrooke’s admitted 87 patients with Covid-19, whereas in the seven days to April 17, it admitted 123.
South Cambridgeshire was fourth in the infection rate table last week, with Cambridge second. But while Cambridge now tops the chart, South Cambridgeshire’s infection rate of 243.6 cases per 100,000 people places it 29th out of 342 local authority areas in England and Wales, as our interactive table above shows.
East Cambridgeshire comes 39th in the table, with Huntingdonshire 47th, Fenland in 170th and Peterborough in 181st.
Overall, across Cambridgeshire, the official number of cases fell by 30.7 per cent, week-on-week.
You can see the breakdown of cases, infection rate and deaths within 28 days of a positive test by local authority area in this table.
Vaccinations are now available on a walk-in basis for everyone aged five and over at Cambridgeshire’s large-scale vaccination centres, where a spring booster programme for over-75s is also under way.
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April 23: Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire record some of the highest Covid-19 infection rates in country
