Covid persisting in one Winchester district but declining elsewhere

Springvale and Itchen Abbas, which stretches from Kings Worthy to Itchen Stoke and from Chilcomb to Northington near Old Alresford, has seen a seven-day increase for the last six days.

The numbers are very low but it is bucking the trend with reported new cases falling across the Winchester district's 14 areas.

The latest figures released this afternoon show that in Springvale and Itchen Abbas there have been eight new cases in the last week, up six on the previous week, a rise of 300 per cent, for a rolling average per 100,000 people of 116.3, now above the current national average, as can be seen on the Government map below.

Springvale and Itchen Abbas shown in blue and surrounded by areas of white where Covid has almost disappeared

There have also been tiny increases of one case in Colden Common and Twyford, Alresford and Winchester North and Sparsholt, with three new cases in the last week in each.

Six areas are now marked white on the Government map, because they have had fewer than three cases in the seven days to February 26. They are:

South Wonston, Sutton Scotney and Micheldever;

Swanmore, Hambledon and West Meon;

Bishop's Waltham and Waltham Chase;

Winchester East;

Stanmore;

Winchester West.

Winchester West, of Weeke and Fulflood, had been a hotspot with many cases at the prison, but the outbreak there has been ended.

In the Winchester district as a whole official figures in the week to Saturd February 27 there were 42 cases, down 15 or 26 per cent for a rolling rate per 100,000 people of 33.6. The Press Association national news agency reported that the figures to Friday February 26 show only 20 places out of 315 authorities in the UK with a better record than Winchester, mostly in the West Country.

In the last seven days to today (Thursday) there have only been 32 new cases in the Winchester district, down from the previous week’s 40. The 32 figure is the lowest since October 2.

The latest figures for Winchester district

The number of Winchester district cases since the start of the pandemic is now 4,744 for a rate per 100,000 people of 3,799. No new deaths have been reported bringing the number to 183, a rate of 146.6 per 100,000 people. In the last seven days there have been six deaths. The district covers more than just the city but includes countryside from Micheldever to Denmead.

The crisis at the Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has continued to ease. On Monday there were 52 patients – 33 at Basingstoke, 19 at RHCH and none at Andover. The previous Monday there were 85 patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 – 51 at Basingstoke, 34 at RHCH and none at Andover.

Across the NHS trusts in Hampshire (Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth, Southern and Solent) sixCovid patients have died, one in Hampshire Hospitals, four in Portsmouth and one in Southampton. That brings the overall figure to 1,832.

Meanwhile, there are only ten schools in Hampshire affected by Covid, up three, with none in the Winchester district.

There are no new cases at Winchester University and 198 since last September,according to its website.

The map below shows the latest numbers for Hampshire and how the pandemic is easing in the South earlier than in the Midlands and the North.

Hampshire Covid statistics