The rapid rise of Covid-19 in Reading since the second lockdown THERE were mixed emotions in Reading when the second national lockdown ended. On December 2, the government lifted the lockdown but Reading and most other areas of Berkshire were moved to Tier 2 (high alert), which meant they could not socialise with people from other households indoors. Before the four-week lockdown, the leaders of Reading Borough Council had held discussions with the government about moving up to Tier 2, due to a steady rise in cases. But when it ended, Cllr Jason Brock, leader of the council, announced the infection rate had “started to drop” and said everyone’s efforts during the lockdown were “helping our town to move forward”.
“At the moment, we don’t know if that particular variant is in Berkshire. “They are doing testing in various areas. They started in Kent and in Medway in particular, because Medway’s numbers were skyrocketing. “They did a deep dive and couldn’t find any outbreak or particular age group or particular reason why. “That’s when they started doing sequencing testing and found the variant.” She added: “There’s no change in the way the virus is transmitted. They are not changing any of the guidance.” When the four-week national lockdown ended on December 2, West Berkshire had one of the lowest seven-day infection rates in the country (54.9 cases per 100,000).
Tier 4 restrictions have been imposed on Berkshire to curb the rapid spread of the virus The number of people being admitted to hospitals across the South East with Covid-19 is “starting to rise significantly”. That was the message from Meradin Peachey, director at Public Health Berkshire, who said the recent spike in cases “will turn into increased hospital admissions within the next two weeks”. “The NHS are not looking forward to the next couple of weeks,” she said. “But even though hospital admissions are starting to rise significantly, a lot lower percentage are ending up in ICU because the treatments are working and there’s a lot lower death rate from Covid this time.”