THE Covid infection rate in Redditch has been raised to national level and will be discussed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock today.
The news was broken in a joint statement from local MP Rachel Maclean and the Leader of Redditch Borough Council, Councillor Matt Dormer.
They said: “As residents know, Redditch has recently topped the charts for all the wrong reasons by having one of the highest infection rates in the country. This is not something any of us want to see.
“As a result, today Redditch will be raised at a national level in the Health Secretary’s meeting on the Covid situation in England.
“We will continue to keep you updated and we will let you know the outcome of this meeting.”
Redditch currently has 152 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people up five on last week while the average for England is just 46.
So far more than 6,000 local residents have contracted Covid and the borough has recorded 184 deaths from the virus.
Just last week the Redditch Standard highlighted the dire situation in the town at a top level Question and Answer sessions with Worcestershire’s director of public health Dr Kath Cobain, top local GP Dr Jonathan Wells and Coun Dormer.
They urged residents to work together to bring the infection rate down and to minimise contact with others and get tested if they fell ill.
Testing can be carried out at a number of local pharmacies and at Redditch Town Hall.
People can also self-test and Dr Wells gave a clear demonstration of how easy and quick this is.
For a video on how to do a simple lateral flow test for Covid click https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xfhHQdvHypIYciBIGbbL7gEKdoB1guv/view?invite=CODGxd8M&ts=60507c91
For re-assurance on the Astrazenica/Oxford vaccine click https://youtu.be/dggIz2zPzwk
