Wirral is set for a hard winter fighting the coronavirus pandemic, as case numbers rise in the borough.
After a long period of falling infection numbers, Wirral has recorded 432 cases in the week up to December 19, at a rate of 133 per 100,000 people.
That is a rise of 76% on the 245 infections recorded seven days earlier.
Infection rates have gone up in other parts of our region as well. In Liverpool, during the same seven-day period, the rate went up to 157 per 100,000 from 100 per 100,000 the week before.
In Sefton, the infection rate has jumped from 77 to 123.
In Wirral’s case, mass testing accounts for some of the increase, but it is certainly not wholly responsible for the borough’s rising infection rate.
Testing carried out on symptom-free people in the week up to December 20 found 131 virus cases in the borough.
Find out how many Covid-19 cases there are in your area
This period does stretch one day beyond the time frame discussed above, so it is not quite comparing like with like, but this does suggest that mass testing is part of the picture in Wirral.
However, Wirral’s cases have been rising since the national lockdown ended on December 2, suggesting that the loosening of restrictions under Tier 2 rules has had a role to play in driving case numbers upwards.
At the end of the second lockdown, Wirral had 172 coronavirus cases at a rate of 53 per 100,000, a week later this had risen to 197 at a rate of 61 per 100,000.
By December 16, the seven-day infection rate had reached 110 per 100,000, with 355 people infected, before hitting 133 per 100,000 in the seven days to December 19.
If this pattern of rising case numbers continues, Wirral’s health services are likely to be placed under intense pressure over the winter period and more restrictions are likely to be brought in to stem the tide of rising cases.
Beyond the winter, the main sign of hope is the rollout of the vaccine, which has seen over half a million people given their first jab already.
It is hoped that all over-65s who are willing to have the vaccine will be immunised by April, helping the borough and the whole country to turn the tide of the pandemic.
In Merseyside, the two main hospital sites where the vaccine is being delivered to people are Aintree Hospital and Clatterbridge Hospital in Wirral.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive at Wirral University Teaching Hospital, the NHS Trust which runs both Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals, said: "We are proud to be one of the first 50 Trusts to roll out the vaccine in England and be part of the largest vaccination programme this country has ever seen.
“We were planning for this for some time so we were ready to begin safely vaccinating those at greatest risk as soon as we received the vaccine.
“We would also like to thank our staff who have worked tirelessly reconfiguring our estate to create a vaccine hub, to prepare our pharmacy and storage; and who are preparing to move onto vaccinations from their normal jobs."
