One in every 16 children aged between 10 and 14 in an English town has tested positive for coronavirus in the past week, statistics show.
The staggering rate applies to the town of Kettering in Northamptonshire. The town, with a population of around 60,000, has an infection rate of more than 6,200 per 100,000 in the 10 to 14-year-old age bracket.
To put that into context, a spike in Stockport saw the infection rate in this age group climb to 2,319.1, believed to be the highest rate recorded in Greater Manchester for any age group, with the exception of a university outbreak in Manchester at the start of October 2020.
Read more: Stop testing kids without any symptoms of Covid, says top Welsh doctor
The rate among 10 to 14-year-olds in Northamptonshire has jumped dramatically since the start of the school term, when the infection rate in that age group was less than 700 per 100,000 people.
The infection rate is far lower among other age groups - even though in some areas it is still near the 1,000 cases per 100,000 population mark - but health bosses are insisting that “community transmission” is behind the surge rather than children mixing in schools.
“Kettering’s Covid-19 cases are in the main from community transmission as the majority of national restrictions have been lifted and more household mixing is taking place,” said Lucy Wightman, director of public health for Northamptonshire.
“Schools cases in Kettering, as expected, are reflective of the spike in cases within the local community.
“The high prevalence in school aged children has been mainly identified through the re-introduction of regular LFD testing in secondary school aged pupils, the majority of which are currently unvaccinated.
“Despite the lifting of national restrictions there are still important and very simple behaviours Kettering residents and others in Northamptonshire can follow to help play their part in stemming onward transmission of Covid-19.”
In Wales, thousands of children have been off school due to positive cases of Covid-19.
Last week, Wales’ education minister Jeremy Miles said the Welsh Government always expected to see a rise in Covid cases in schools as children returned for the new term. In the week up to September 17, 6,016 pupils across the country were missing from schools for a Covid-related reason. You can read more about that here.
“We thought we might see an increase in numbers,” said Mr Miles.
“It is important to look at Scotland, where school term started about three weeks before Wales and at the equivalent point to where we are now positive cases were going up [in Scotland], and then they started to come down.
“It’s very important that we keep the situation under review. The framework in place allows headteachers to know how to deal with any event.”
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