ne of London’s most deprived boroughs has seen Covid-19 cases halve in a week — but they are falling at less than half that rate in wealthy parts of the city, official figures reveal today.
They show confirmed cases dropped 50.1 per cent in Tower Hamlets in the week to January 29, down by 746 to 742.
Cases also fell in Greenwich, by 46.4 per cent, in Hackney and City of London by 45.1 per cent, Waltham Forest by 44.2 per cent, Camden by 43 per cent, Redbridge by 42.6 per cent, Croydon by 41.9 per cent, Barnet 41.5 per cent, Bexley 41.2 per cent, and Barking and Dagenham 40.5 per cent.
However, these sharp drops, including in many boroughs in north east London which was hardest hit by the second wave, contrast with far smaller declines in wealthy boroughs in the south west of the city.
In Richmond, cases were down 20.5 per cent, Kingston 21 per cent and Hammersmith and Fulham 21.8 per cent.
Disease levels in these areas never rose as high as in many of the worst-hit boroughs.
London’s public health chief Professor Kevin Fenton also warned yesterday that the “final mile” in driving down infectious diseases is always the hardest, as the people who need protecting then are often those least able to avoid the infection for a variety of reasons including being key workers and not being able to work from home.
He told how the capital’s Asian communities, including in many north east boroughs, had been even harder hit by the second Covid wave than black communities who suffered the biggest impact in the first wave, and appealed to all Londoners to have the coronavirus vaccine and keep following the rules.
He also stressed that he would like to see the seven-day Covid-19 rate fall below 100 new infections per 100,000 Londoners before lockdown is eased; it was 309.1 in the week to January 29.
So the figures, while hugely encouraging, also lay out the task facing the capital to bring the virus to bay:
- Four boroughs still have a seven-day rate above 400; Ealing on 440.9, Hounslow 436.8, Brent 433.9 and Hillingdon 421.7.
- Fourteen boroughs are above 200, a big rise in this group in recent days showing how levels are dropping quickly in many areas, but 13 remain above 300.
- Camden has become the first borough to go below 200 at 178.5.
- There were 3,095 Covid patients admitted to London’s hospitals in the week to January 31, with 394 on that day, down from a peak of 977 on January 6.
- There were 5,723 coronavirus patients in the city’s hospitals as of January 2, down from a peak of 7,917 on January 18, with 1,075 so ill that they are on ventilators, a figure which is coming down slightly but still very high.
- A further 148 Covid deaths, within 28 days of people testing positive, were announced for London yesterday, taking the total so far to 13,759.
- A further 36,363 first dose jabs were announced yesterday to have been administered in the capital, taking the total so far to 1,011,490.
The full figures show that:
In Tower Hamlets there were 742 cases in the week to January 29, down 746 (50.1%) with a seven-day rate of 228.5, Greenwich 852 cases, down 738 (46.4%) rate 295.9, Hackney and City of London 709 cases, down 582 (45.1%) rate 243.8, Waltham Forest 843 cases, down 668 (44.2%) rate 304.4, Camden 482 cases, down 363 (43%) rate 178.5, Redbridge 1021 cases, down 757 (42.6%) rate 334.5, Croydon 1242 cases, down 897 (41.9%) rate 321.2, Barnet 1213 cases, down 862 (41.5%) rate 306.4, Bexley 690 cases, down 484 (41.2%) rate 277.9, Barking and Dagenham 828 cases, down 564 (40.5%) rate 388.9, Haringey 782 cases, down 523 (40.1%) rate 291.1, and Lewisham 884 cases, down 565 (39%) rate 289.
Newham saw 1342 cases, down 852 (38.8%) rate 380, Sutton 662 cases, down 409 (38.2%) rate 320.8, Ealing 1507 cases, down 909 (37.6%) rate 440.9, Havering 737 cases, down 435 (37.1%) rate 284, Hounslow 1186 cases, down 685 (36.6%) rate 436.8, Bromley 872 cases, down 495 (36.2%) rate 262.4, Enfield 1051 cases, down 595 (36.1%) rate 314.9, Brent 1431 cases, down 807 (36.1%) rate 433.9, Merton 666 cases, down 367 (35.5%) rate 322.4, Wandsworth 792 cases, down 436 (35.5%) rate 240.2, Southwark 883 cases, down 460 (34.3%) rate 277, Lambeth 1001 cases, down 517 (34.1%) rate 307, Westminster 581 cases, down 284 (32.8%) rate 222.3, Kensington and Chelsea 330 cases, down 158 (32.4%) rate 211.4, Harrow 954 cases, down 446 (31.9%) rate 379.8, Islington 560 cases, down 243 (30.3%) rate 231, Hillingdon 1294 cases, down 507 (28.2%) rate 421.7, Hammersmith and Fulham 593 cases, down 165 (21.8%) rate 320.3, Kingston 533 cases, down 142 (21%) rate 300.3, and Richmond 435 cases, down 112 (20.5%) rate 219.7.
— to www.standard.co.uk
