In the latest data released by Public Health England, in the seven days to July 27 – more than a week after the final lockdown rules were lifted by the Government – cases have nearly halved.
On July 18, the day before Prime Minister Boris Johnson lifted mandatory mask wearing and the remaining social distancing rules, there were 474 positive cases of coronavirus in Tunbridge Wells.
This was an increase on the week before by more than 200, raising fears of a spike in the virus caused by the Delta variant – the strain first identified in India.
As reported in the Times last week, despite this surge in cases, hospital admissions and deaths remained low.
Now new figures show incidents of the virus are actually on the wane, with rates falling to 264 cases in seven days – a drop of more than 200 in just a week.
The infection rate per 100,000 people in the Borough now stands at 222.4 – the average rate in England is 305.1.
All the 315 local areas in England have seen a week-on-week fall in virus rates.
Tonbridge & Malling has seen rates fall from 756 to just 425, with its rate per 100,000 now at 321.6.
Wealden’s rates have fallen from 610 to 316, with its rate per 100,000 now at 195.7.
Hospital admissions have risen in the last week, with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust – which runs the two hospitals in Pembury and Maidstone – admitting around 60 people in the seven days to July 25 compared to around 20 the week before, although this figure is much lower than 230 hospital admissions the Trust was experiencing during the peak of the virus last January.
The Trust has also recorded the only two deaths from the virus in July, the first fatalities since March.
Despite plunging rates of Covid-19, the number of people undergoing PCR tests has also remained at a constant level, despite a move to home testing kits.
Around 4,779 of the NHS lab tests are being conducted each week in Tunbridge Wells, which is lower than the 7,125 peak seen last December, but higher than the levels seen throughout April, May and June, when only around 3,000 people a week were being tested.
