Concern as High Peak's coronavirus infection rate rises, figures show

The data, published by Public Health England, is based on tests carried out in laboratories and the wider community.

They show that the High Peak’s infection rate is up from 12.9 to to 18.3 with 17 new cases of the virus in the seven days leading up to September 4.

In the seven days leading up to August 28, only 12 cases were reported in the district.

Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire have also seen a rise in cases, with infection rates up from 1.0 to 10.5 and 3.9 to 13.4 respectively.

Erewash has seen a drop in its infection rate- from 9.5 to 8.7 in the past week, and 10 cases down from 11.

This was also the case in the Derbyshire Dales- down from 12.4 to 5.5 and four cases down from nine.

Health experts are keen to encourage as many ‘younger, working age’ people exhibiting even the mildest of symptoms to get tested, as the average age of those testing positive for coronavirus has dropped dramatically.

A member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said the latest increase in coronavirus cases is “very worrying”.

Professor Andrew Hayward told BBC Radio 4: “Generally it is local outbreaks, but there is also very worrying increases in cases, particularly over the last few days.

“That is what we are really keeping a close eye on – the extent to which it moves away from these local outbreaks to broader community transmission.

“What we saw in the last few days from this surveillance data was this worrying increase in cases which, as we know from the first wave of the pandemic, can potentially get out of hand if we don’t be very serious about the control measures.”

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