FOR some unexplained reason the number of Covid-19 cases in Winchester has been reduced from 1,533 to 1,466.

Winchester had been seeing the sharpest rise in Covid cases since the start of the pandemic with 75 cases reported on Saturday and 39 yesterday.

But the new figure of 1,466 today makes those figures inaccurate and makes it impossible to say how many new cases there have been.

Today's figures on the Government website take the numbers back towards Friday's 1,419 since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile there have been 139 new cases reported in Hampshire County Council area, with 14,698 cases today, down from 14,837 on Sunday. It would appear that Saturday's reported figures for both Winchester and Hampshire were wrong.

But the numbers still appear to be going up. The number of deaths in the Winchester district has risen from 84 on Sunday to 86 today.

‘Winchester district’ comprises more than the city and is the city council area which stretches from Micheldever in the north to Southwick in the south, from Sparsholt in the west to Bramdean in the east.

The number of Covid deaths in Hampshire County Council area has risen by five to 804 people.

Figures published by NHS England show that two people have died over the weekend in the area covered by the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that includes the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester and six in the Portsmouth area over the last 24 hours.

So far, 220 people have died with Covid at University Hospital Southampton. At Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust the toll now stands at 261, and at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which includes the RHCH in Winchester, there have been 186 recorded deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 688 deaths across Hampshire.

Data shows that the infection rate in the Winchester district in the seven days to November 11 is 212 cases or 169.8 in every 100,000. It is now fifth highest in Hampshire after Portsmouth, Havant, Southampton and fast-rising Gosport.

Today there were 139 new cases reported in the Hampshire County Council areas taking the total to 14,698, an infection rate since March of 1,063.1 per 100,000 people. On Saturday there were 619 cases, the highest since the peak in the spring.

The number of deaths in the Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation hospitals, which includes the RHCH, is now 186. For the other local trusts: Portsmouth, 261, up six; Solent, 3, same; Southern Health, 18, same; Southampton, 220, same.

Deaths in local authority areas are Winchester: 86; Portsmouth: 89; Southampton: 131 and Hampshire 804 (including Winchester).

The numbers of Covid sufferers being admitted to hospital has fallen sharply. There wer e97 on Friday, down on the 181 on Thursday, in hospitals across the south-east region. On Sunday there are 1,041 patients in south-east hospitals on Saturday, up on 991 on Saturday. Eighty-three are on ventilators, down one one on Saturday.

The latest available figure for Covid patients at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital is 57 down on 63 last on Wednesday. Some 43 Covid patients are at the North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke.