Kirklees Covid-19 infection rates rise for first time in 2021

After six consecutive weeks of reductions, the past seven days have seen a rise in cases.

Kirklees Council is now urging everyone to play their part in preventing the spread of the virus as lockdown is set to ease over the coming weeks.

On Monday February 22 2021, Government announced its roadmap for England to gradually and safely come out of lockdown and for all Covid-19 restrictions to eventually be removed.

Rachel Spencer Henshall, Kirklees Council’s Director of Public Health, has urged residents to be optimistic but cautious about the borough’s route out of lockdown.

“The Government’s roadmap shows us the route we need to take towards safely coming out of lockdown and eventually seeing all restrictions lifted. We can be optimistic, and we can be hopeful, but we cannot be complacent. The threat of the virus to people in Kirklees is still high and we all need to be cautious in the coming weeks," she said.

“Our infections rates have increased in the last week which, during a time of lockdown, is a concern. Around 20 people are still dying every week in local hospitals and NHS services remain under pressure.

“We need to keep the virus under control and follow the roadmap as safely as we possibly can. It’s only with everyone’s joint effort we can do that.

“We know the last year has been incredibly tough and it continues to be. But we now have a route out of the restrictions. It’s now everyone’s job to get Kirklees through this roadmap as safely as we can. Thank you for playing your part.”

With 189 per 100,000 people in Kirklees testing positive for COVID-19 over the last seven days, the borough’s rates have increased by nine per cent over the last week. Kirklees’ rates are above the national average of 118 per 100,000.

There were 833 new confirmed positive cases in the last week in Kirklees – more than last week when there were 764. Around 98 per cent of these cases were of the Kent variant, which has shown to be spread more easily.

There were 49 Kirklees people admitted to local hospitals with Covid-19 over the last week, which has dropped from 84 last week. There are currently 121 patients from Kirklees in local hospitals with Covid-19 which is lower than week, when it was 150, but remains high. There were sadly 21 Covid-19 related deaths in the last week – which has dropped slightly from 23 the previous week.