COVID-19 update 09 July 2021

Gloucestershire County Council sent this bulletin at 09-07-2021 10:19 AM BST

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Key messages

Subject to confirmation next Monday 12 July, England will move into Step 4 of the Government’s roadmap on Monday 19 July. This means we will move away from legal restrictions including: limits on numbers of people who can meet up indoors and outside, wearing face coverings and social distancing. Read the new guidance published here.
Test and trace will continue and people will still need to isolate if they test positive – with some contact isolation, such as in schools set to stop. Contingency plans will remain in place in case there are changes to the situation, for example during the winter months.
Making sure you have had both COVID-19 vaccinations is crucial. Vaccines have saved thousands of lives and continue to prove effective against variants such as Delta. Vaccinations are being offered to all over 18s in England. The interval for second jabs for the over 40s has already been reduced from 12 to eight weeks and following the Prime Minister’s announcement this week, under 40s will also have their jab brought forward, with booster vaccinations set to be rolled out to the most vulnerable. Your GP will be in touch as soon as it’s your turn. Find out more.
The Department for Transport has announced that whilst the red travel list will remain those who are double vaccinated will not have to isolate on return from countries on the amber list.
A new walk-through coronavirus (COVID-19) testing facility has opened for those with symptoms to book appointments at Coronation Square, Edinburgh Place (GL51 7RG) in Cheltenham, as part of the government’s drive to continue to improve the accessibility of COVID-19 testing for local communities. The new site is situated so it is easily accessible without a car. Anyone with one or more of these symptoms should book a test at uk/coronavirus or by calling 119. The government is committed to making it even easier to get tested and to reducing the time it takes to receive test results.
Free, twice-weekly rapid testing is available to everyone without symptoms. Getting tested even though you have no symptoms will be critical to control the virus as society reopens, including the spread of variants. Many more pharmacies in the county are offering on-site testing, which is especially good for people who haven’t taken a rapid test before or want some support to do it. All locations, including kit collection points can be found on the NHS Finder Map.
Washing your hands, keep your distance and wearing a face covering in busy areas are still the best ways of protecting yourself and others from catching and spreading COVID-19.

Testing

In the preceding 30 days of reporting (06 June-6 July) under our local pillar 2* testing sites 327,874 tests have been undertaken in Gloucestershire residents, 1.53 % of these were positive.

Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) locations⁶

Lower Lode Depot, Lower Lode Lane, Tewkesbury, GL20 5TT (Friday-Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday)
Car Park, Oldends Lane, Stonehouse, GL10 2DG (Friday-Monday and Thursday)
Car Park off Newerne Street, Lydney, GL15 5RA (Friday and Wednesday-Thursday)
Royal Agricultural University, Stroud Road, Cirencester, GL7 6JS (Friday-Thursday)
University Of Gloucestershire, Entrance 3, Park Campus, The Park, Cheltenham, GL50 2RH (Saturday-Sunday)
Cinderford RFC, Dockham Rd, Cinderford GL14 2AQ (Monday-Tuesday)
Dursley Rugby Club, Hounds Green, Dursley GL11 6AJ (Monday-Tuesday)
North RFC, Stoke Orchard Road, Bishops Cleeve, GL52 7DG (Tuesday-Wednesday)
Stow RFC, Oddington Road, Stow on the Wold, GL54 1JJ (Wednesday- Thursday)

Permanent Testing Site Locations

PCR Testing Sites

Gloucester RTS

Hempsted Meadows, David Hook Way, Gloucester, GL2 5LE

Cheltenham LTS

High Street Car Park, Cheltenham, GL50 4AL

Stroud LTS

Stratford Park Leisure Centre, Stratford Road, Stroud, GL5 4AF

You can book a test here for one of these sites if you have any COVID-19 symptoms.

Assisted Testing in Pharmacies (LFD)

You can see which pharmacies you can take a rapid test at if you do not have any COVID-19 symptoms here.

LFD Home Test Collection

Anyone can collect LFD kits for use at home from any of the locations listed here, including some pharmacies and local libraries.

LFD Home Test Delivery

If you cannot get tested at your workplace or are unable to go to a test site or collect test kits, you can order a test kit to your home here.

Outbreaks

In the last 7 days, there has been 20 confirmed⁷ outbreaks in high risk settings in Gloucestershire.

09/07/2021

Gloucestershire COVID-19 stats

Link to graph showing daily cases by local authority (Please open in Google Chrome)

Cases

In week 26 (Monday 28^th June- Sunday 4^th July) there were 1490 confirmed cases of COVID19.

Of these cases:

445 were in Gloucester
290 were in Cheltenham
254 were in Stroud
248 were in Tewkesbury
149 were in Cotswold
104 were in Forest of Dean

* Please note these figures are provisional and subject to change. (Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ as at 16:00 07/07/2021)

The rate of cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 is 226.0 in Gloucestershire, 190.3 in the South West, and 245.0 in England⁹.

Deaths mentioning COVID19

In week 25 (Saturday 19th June – Friday 25th June) there was 0 deaths mentioning “novel coronavirus (COVID-19)”, which is 0.0% of all deaths, this compares with 1 (1.0% of all deaths) in Week 24

*Please note these figures are based on all deaths registered by the 3rd July they are provisional and will be subject to change. They include deaths that make any mention of COVID-19 on the death certificate. (Source: Weekly provisional figures on deaths occurring and registered in England and Wales by Local Authority)

*Please the dates above, the ONS weeks run from Saturday- Friday and we are unable to change this.

Deaths in NHS Trusts² - 612 (0 new).

Deaths in Care Homes: 406 (0 new)

Key links

National Guidance

General NHS advice

Latest advice and developments from Gloucestershire NHS

Gloucestershire's Community Help Hub

Council service updates

Make an adult social care referral

Business advice and support

Looking after your wellbeing

Support for children and families during Covid-19

National updates

Your questions answered

To make sure your questions get answered promptly by the team, please continue to send your questions directly to democratic.services@gloucestershire.gov.uk

What is the situation regarding hospital admissions due to Covid-19 in Gloucestershire?

Thankfully, people now sadly dying with COVID-19 are few and far between and the majority of people testing positive experience mild symptoms or none at all. However, there are still people who require hospital treatment to recover. Information on admissions to hospital are published weekly by NHS Trust. As of Thursday 1st July there were 14 people in hospital with COVID-19 and 0 patients on ventilation at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and 0 patients in hospital with COVID-19 in Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Please be mindful that when someone is admitted to hospital they are routinely tested for COVID-19. Not all those included in these figures are in hospital because of their COVID-19 symptoms and many will have no symptoms at all.

¹ The above data reflects nationally published data available here.

² This section contains information on deaths of patients who have died in hospitals in Gloucestershire and had tested positive for COVID-19 at time of death or where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. All deaths are recorded against the date of death rather than the date the deaths were announced. It is based on national NHS data published here.

³ Weekly death figures provide provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales for which data are available. From 31 March 2020 these figures also show the number of deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19), based on any mention of COVID-19 on the death certificate. Figures by place of death may differ to previously published figures due to improvements in the way we code place of death. This figure does not include deaths of those resident outside England and Wales or those records where the place of residence is either missing or not yet fully coded. For this reason counts may differ to published figures when summed. Bank Holidays could affect the number of registrations made within those weeks.

⁴ CQC publish figures on deaths where Covid-19 was suspected in the notification from the care home, as well as all cause mortality (since 10 April 2020). It is probable that not all deaths due to Covid-19 will be notified as such, conversely Covid-19 may be mentioned but not have been a contributory factor in a death). While CQC numbers are more comprehensive than local reporting, they are not currently reported by district council.

⁵ Pillar 2 swab testing is available for the wider population, as set out in government guidance. It does not include inpatients and frontline healthcare workers.

⁶ Please note that there is a possibility of last minute changes if the MTU’s are diverted to assist with outbreak control both in this county or elsewhere.

⁷ Confirmed – this means a laboratory confirmed case of Covid19 from that setting. Suspected – this means there has been someone reporting Covid19 symptoms (new continuous cough or high temperature or a loss of, or change in, normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)) from the setting and swab result is awaited. Outbreak - An outbreak is where two or more persons with the confirmed or suspected COVID-19 who are linked through common exposure, personal characteristics, time or location. Incident - An incident is any event involving COVID-19 which presents a real or possible risk to the health of the public and requires urgent investigation and management.

⁸ High risk settings are places where individuals live in close proximity to each other or are particularly vulnerable. These include care homes, supported living, student accommodation, homeless accommodation and schools. This would not include single cases in hospital settings.

⁹Specimen date range used is 4 days before today and includes the preceding 7 days. This is due to the time it takes for a specimen to be taken, processed and notified (average 4 days)