Coronavirus infection numbers in Sefton have fallen by more than a third in a week.
Following a steep rise in cases, the borough’s infection rate has fallen to 672 per 100,000 people, in the week ending January 18.
In the previous week, Sefton’s infection rate was 1,042 per 100,000 people.
The numbers are still high, but show early signs of coming back under control after more than a month of soaring.
On December 3, the day after the second national lockdown ended, Sefton’s rate was 73.
By Christmas Day, this had risen to 178, before jumping to 530 on New Year’s Day.
Every other borough in the Liverpool City Region has also seen a decline in cases this week.
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Knowsley has Merseyside’s highest rate – 1,012 per 100,000.
Liverpool’s rate is now 715, while Wirral has the Liverpool City Region’s lowest infection rate, at 664 per 100,000.
Vaccines have given cause for optimism, but with some people not expected to get their first dose before September, it is important we follow the rules if our region is to get the virus back under control.
For data collection purposes, Sefton is divided into 38 neighbourhoods.
All but five of these saw a decline in infection rates in the week ending January 17.
The area known as Bootle South is currently Sefton’s worst impacted neighbourhood.
Its infection rate stands at 1,018 per 100,000 people. This is a 21% decrease from the previous week.
Other areas which saw an increase in infection rates are Hesketh Park, Hillside, Ainsdale West, and Formby South East and Ince Blundell.
The least impacted of Sefton’s neighbourhoods is currently Formby Central and Freshfield South, where there were 19 new cases reported over seven days.
This is down from 56 in the previous week – and gives the area a current infection rate of 307 per 100,000 people.
Other neighbourhoods with rates that are lower than 400 include Marshside, Meols Cop, Southport South, and Birkdale.
While the decrease in our region’s overall cases is positive news, all of our main NHS hospital trusts report they currently have higher numbers of Covid-19 patients than at any other time during the pandemic.
As of January 19 there were 122 virus patients in Southport and Ormskirk hospitals – down slightly from 125 the day before.
The trust’s previous peak point was on April 20 when it was caring for 114 virus patients – with a peak of 98 reached on November as part of the second wave.
