The coronavirus infection rate is rising in St Helens and the wider region PUBLIC health chiefs say they believe a more contagious strain of coronavirus has already made its way to Merseyside. The variant, named VUI-202012/01, is believed to be up 70 per cent more transmissible than previous forms, and is thought to be what has been driving high infection rates in the South East. The UK recorded another 36,804 confirmed cases of Covid-19 today, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. Today’s tally also tops the previous record of 35,928 new cases set on Sunday. London and large parts of South East have already been placed into Tier 4 restrictions – essentially locking them down – on Sunday due to high prevalence of the new variant, with fears that more areas might follow.
St Helens town centre RESIDENTS have been warned they risk sending St Helens “back to square one” if they do not take the coronavirus rules serious over Christmas, as infection rates begin to creep up. Over the weekend the government scaled back plans to allow households to form ‘Christmas bubbles’, allowing it only on Christmas Day itself rather than five days as planned. This follows a surge in cases in London and parts of the South East, which is believed to be driven by a new variant of Covid-19 that is even more infectious. Locally, Covid-19 infection rates across the entire Liverpool City Region have started to rise, although St Helens only saw a small increase.
Expanded mass testing finds 237 more Covid-19 cases who didn t have symptoms
Mass testing has been expanded to the whole of the city region this week
19:07, 19 DEC 2020
Mass testing taking place in Liverpool
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Monday, December 28: 10am–3pm (St Mary s Indoor Market only) Tuesday, December 29: 8.30am–6.00pm Wednesday, December 30: 8.30am–6.00pm New Year s Eve: 8.30am–4pm New Year s Day: Closed Saturday and Sunday January 2/3: 10am-3pm Monday, January 4: as per previous times Symptom-free (or lateral flow ) testing will identify people who may have the virus but not know, who could then be spreading Covid-19 to others. If you’ve travelled back to #StHelens and Merseyside from London/SE England before government changed the rules, please get tested, check you’re clear, and help to stop the spread. Find out more: https://t.co/hMRlD6TjTF#StHelensTogether#LetsGetTestedpic.twitter.com/2QDbQMd0KM David Baines #StHelensTogether (@davidebaines) December 20, 2020
The testing site at St Mary s Market NEARLY 5,000 people have so far had a coronavirus test at one of the designated stations since the mass programme for those who do not have symptoms was launched. Following the MAST testing pilot that was run in Liverpool, the project was launched last week offered to people living and working in St Helens who do not have COVID-19 symptoms. The other boroughs in the region (Knowsley, Halton, Sefton, and Wirral) are also seeing regular testing for residents without symptoms of COVID-19 from this week. SMART testing refers to Systematic, Meaningful, Asymptomatic, Repeated Testing, with the approach being based on the learning of the pilot in Liverpool and continue to be evaluated to inform how testing works nationally.