Liverpool’s coronavirus rates have continued their decline this week but the pressure on hospitals remains.
In the week up to January 25, there were 2,380 confirmed new cases of coronavirus, down from 3,610 a week earlier. The city’s rate of cases stood 478 per 100,000 people on the same day.
The fall in virus levels has now been felt in hospital admissions with Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust reporting its first decline in weeks.
However, the numbers in intensive care remain high and hospitals are being strained by major staffing pressures. The same week saw 61 people die of Covid-19 across the city, almost as many as at the peak of the second wave in October.
Council data from Friday suggests that the seven day average of infections is falling in 29 of the city’s 30 wards. Only Kensington and Fairfield reported a rise.
However, case rates still vary wildly across the city. Most wards have a rate of between 300 and 550 cases per 100,000 people but rates go as high as 721 in Yew Tree and as low as 131 in Central ward.
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City leaders have continued to urge people to stick to lockdown restrictions to ensure case levels keep falling.
In a blog post this week in which he reflected on the UK reaching 100,000 coronavirus deaths, public health director Matt Ashton urged residents to continue to follow the rules.
He said: “I am hopeful the restrictions on our everyday movements will begin to be lifted in the coming months, but they need to be done so gradually and with extreme care, so we don’t see the virus take off again.
“Wearing face coverings when in confined spaces, such as out shopping, will be a way of life for some time to come.
“And large group gatherings of the size and scale we remember pre- Covid, such as football matches and concerts, are a long way off.”
The city has a large proportion of residents with underlying health conditions, which leaves them particularly vulnerable to attack by the virus, such as lung or heart conditions.
And many residents live in small properties, meaning the virus spreads easily within their household as they are unable to self-isolate effectively.
