Forty new coronavirus cases in Wakefield district as hotspots develop despite track and trace

Coronavirus hotspots continue to develop across the UK, despite the introduction of testing and tracing systems.
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Parts of England and Wales have seen the most new cases, with lower rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Monitoring the number of new infections plays an important part in measuring R, the reproduction rate of the virus.

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A total of 40 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the Wakefield district between May 23 and June 6.

Coronavirus hotspots have been revealedCoronavirus hotspots have been revealed
Coronavirus hotspots have been revealed

The additional cases mean there was an infection rate of 11.5 per 100,000 of the population for that period and the district ranked at 89 of 313 local authority areas, listed from highest number to lowest.

Wakefield has recorded a total of 770 cases throughout the pandemic.

The UK Government last month unveiled plans for “local lockdowns” in the next phase of the fight against the pandemic.

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At a press briefing on Friday, June 5, health secretary Matt Hancock said measures had since been put in place to dampen localised outbreaks, such as in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset.

Social distancing adviceSocial distancing advice
Social distancing advice

There, Weston General Hospital has been closed to new patients to control the spread of the virus among patients and staff.

Mr Hancock said it would be “increasingly important” to monitor data at local levels and then take action, a job which would fall to the new Joint Biosecurity Centre.

He said: “We need to get more granular and more focused and find the source of the local outbreak and then deal with it.”

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The highest rates of new cases in the past fortnight were seen in Ashford and Tunbridge Wells in South East England, Huntingdonshire in the East of England and North Wales.

Each of these areas saw more than 50 new cases diagnosed for every 100,000 residents in the two weeks to June 6.

In Northern Ireland, the Causeway Coast and Glens council area saw the highest rate of new cases, at 29.8 per 100,000 residents, in the fortnight to June 6.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, June 9, Northern Ireland health minister Robin Swann welcomed the nation’s third consecutive day without a coronavirus death.

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But he warned of the chance of a second wave, saying: “There will be no charge for the lockdown exit door. There will be no suggestion that the worst is over, that people can relax their guard.

“Yes, Covid-19 is in retreat but we must not turn our back on it.”

In Scotland, the NHS Ayrshire and Arran area saw the highest rate of new cases, at 16.8 per 100,000 residents, in the fortnight to June 6.

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, June 9, first minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would in the coming weeks be publishing region-specific figures on the early stages of the country’s Test and Protect scheme.

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She said: “I can’t stress enough that the willingness of all of us to fully cooperate with Test and Protect in the weeks and months to come will be absolutely vital to our efforts to keep the virus suppressed as we try to restore some normality to our everyday lives.”