WILTSHIRE has reported a 70 per cent rise in Coronavirus cases.

It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday there was a “challenging decision” to be made over the further lifting of Covid restrictions on June 21.

As part of Government recommendations, people in areas affected by a rise in the variant first identified in India, are being urged to meet outside rather than inside where possible, keep up social distancing and minimise travel in and out of affected regions.

The help on offer includes military support with testing and supervised in-school testing, and greater communication with disadvantaged groups will be available.

Local directors of public health will also be able to reintroduce face coverings in communal areas in schools if they want to.

Wiltshire figures

Salisbury Journal:

In the seven days to June 3, there were 63 cases reported in the county, up 26, or 70.3 per cent.

This is still comfortably below the national average.

In most areas of Salisbury, there were fewer than three cases reported. For smaller areas with fewer than 3 cases, data is not shown.

Downton, there were three cases, and in Blandford, five.

Seven–day rates are expressed per 100,000 population and are calculated by dividing the seven day count by the area population and multiplying by 100,000.

Rachel Kent, Public Health Consultant, said: “Wiltshire has an average case rate of around 12.6 per 100,000 which is well below the national average. We always expected to see numbers creep up as more restrictions were lifted, and when you’re starting from such a low baseline even a small number of new cases can make the data seem dramatic.

"We are currently not seeing anything in our data which is causing us concern, however, we work very closely with our health colleagues and should there be any changes we’ll be in a position to act quickly.

“People need to keep following the advice and basic behaviours that still are proven to be the best way to protect each other from COVID-19 – this means keep washing hands regularly or sanitising them, wear a face mask where required, socially distance as much as possible, and if you have COVID-19 symptoms, please book a test and self-isolate immediately, and get the vaccine when offered it."

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