Southwark’s Covid-19 cases have gone up by nearly 41 per cent in a single week, as concerns mount about the spread of the Omicron variant.
Cases rose to 1,034 in Southwark for the week between November 23 and November 29, up from 735 the week before. The increase appears to be accelerating as well, after an increase of 13.3 per cent last week.
New infections were up across south-east London, with cases rising nearly 31 per cent to 1,158 in Lambeth and 28 per cent in Lewisham to 1,067. Bromley had the highest number of cases out of the six south-east London boroughs again with 1,514, but with an increase of only about 15 per cent.
Greenwich saw an increase of cases of about 24 per cent to 963, while Bexley’s new cases stood at 1,005, up by about 14 per cent.
A more worrying picture emerges over the whole of the last month, with Southwark infections increasing about 86 per cent from the last week of October compared to the final seven days of November. The other south-east boroughs also saw large increases in Covid cases over the same period, but none as high as in Southwark.
But despite the sharp increase in cases, Southwark’s infection rate – the proportion of residents who have Covid per 100,000 people – was still among the lowest out of any local authority in the UK over the past week, at about 276.
It comes as fears rise over the spread of the new Covid Omicron variant, which may be easier to spread and better at evading vaccines.
Fewer than thirty cases of the Omicron variant have been recorded in the UK, and none in Southwark, as of the end of Tuesday (November 30).
But the government has imposed a series of new rules, including making masks compulsory again on public transport and in shops and making people take a PCR test and self-isolate until they know they are negative. Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not rule out tighter restrictions, telling a press conference on Tuesday that “the kind of lockdown we had before is extremely unlikely.”
The biggest defence against the new variant remains the vaccine and boosters, Johnson said. The NHS will also roll out the vaccine boosters to every adult by the end of January, he announced on Tuesday, with pharmacies and hospitals helping to roll out the boosters faster. That means fourteen million more adults are now eligible for the jab, he said.
NHS England boss Amanda Pritchard said pharmacies would be given an increased £15 standard payment per jab delivered until January, with an additional £5 payment for vaccines at weekends. There will also be a £30 premium payment for vaccinating people who can’t leave the house.
Although no Omicron cases have been found yet in Southwark, there were already ten cases in London by the end of Tuesday. In south London, two new infections were found in Wandsworth and one in Sutton.
The NHS’ south-east London clinical commissioning group is responsible for administering the vaccine in the area, with support from local authorities like Southwark Council.
As of the end of last week, about 5.6m people in London had been double-jabbed and 1.7m have had a booster or a third vaccine, according to NHS stats. Nearly 310,000 people in the six south-east boroughs had been given a booster as of November 28, figures also show.
Cllr Evelyn Akoto, the council’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, said: “Council officers continue to work closely with Clinical Commissioning Group colleagues, the voluntary and community sector and others, to ensure as many eligible residents as possible get their COVID-19 booster jab. This work includes sharing information about who’s eligible for boosters as widely as possible.
“We also share news about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, local vaccination walk-in sites, the national booking system, and more. This work will continue as eligibility for the booster jab broadens, as it’s crucial that residents know how important it is to get a booster jab and top up their immunity, as the effectiveness of vaccines reduces over time.”
Meanwhile, despite the new variant, Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s both said that there were no current plans to change the rules about the number of people who can come into the hospital as ‘birth partners’ during labour.
Just walk around Camberwell . No masks anywhere including Morrisons and no one doing anything . That’s why certain people are being more impacted ..they dont wear masks and its mainly the men