New Covid-19 cases rose by nearly 40 per cent in Southwark again this week, as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the new Omicron variant was circulating in the UK.
New infections shot up to 1,442 in Southwark in the week from November 30 to December 6, up from 1034 the previous week – which itself was up more than 40 per cent from the week before.
Cases continued to rise across south-east London. Lambeth saw new infections go up to 1,571 across the week, an increase of about 36 per cent. In Lewisham new cases went up by 40 per cent to 1,489. Greenwich had a huge rise of 58 per cent to 1,520. Increases in Bexley and Bromley were just under 30 per cent. There were 1,923 new cases in Bromley, with 1,298 in Bexley.
The monthly increase in cases was even more marked. This week infections were up 150 per cent in Southwark compared to the week from November 2-November 9. There were similar monthly increases in Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley. Cases rose by slightly less in Greenwich, but were still up 86 per cent compared to the month before.
Despite new cases continuing to rise steeply, deaths recorded within four weeks of a Covid test remained at around the same level in south-east London, at fourteen, compared to fifteen the week before.
Southwark’s infection rate rose to 394 per 100,000 people, up from 276. The borough is still towards the lower end of UK local authorities for infection rate, but is considerably higher up the list than last week.
It comes as health secretary Sajid Javid told MPs on Monday (December 6) that there were cases of the Omicron variant – which is more easily passed on – that were not linked to international travel. That means the virus is spreading in the community in the UK.
There were 336 Omicron cases in the UK as of Monday. Javid said that the government still does not have “a complete picture” of whether the new variant causes a worse illness than previous strains. Vaccine effectiveness against Omicron is also unclear.
The UK has put travel restrictions on eleven countries and asked anyone coming from abroad to take a PCR test before they set off and when they arrive.