As Kent heads into Tier 3 restrictions tomorrow (December 2) covid rates in Thanet continue to reduce.
The overall rate for the isle for the seven days to November 26 is 443.2 – a drop from mid November when rates stood at 504.5 but still much higher than the start of November when the rolling rate was 268.5. Even this was a huge increase on the previous month when, going into October, the rate per 100,000 people was 24.7.
The England average rate is now 160.2 per 100,000
However, the government data map for today shows an increasing amount of blue for areas of the isle rather than purple (which indicates rates at 400-plus.
There were 78 positive tests for Thanet reported today (December 1), making 669 over the last 7 days which is a 6.2% drop on the previous week.
Kent Public Health data says the sensitivity of RT-PCR testing methodology is reportedly poor and has been estimated to give false-negative rates between 2% and 29% of the time. Positive tests are considered accurate by comparison.
Sadly, six deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test were reported for today, making 23 in the last seven days – a rise of 53%.
The total number of people in Thanet who have had a confirmed positive test result as of 1 December was 4,097.
The total number of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for Coronavirus as of 30 November 2020 was 165. However this is not the total number of deaths overall with East Kent Hospitals recording 515 deaths of people who have tested positive for covid recorded for the hospital trust up until November 25.
As of November 24, 138 beds at East Kent Hospitals (Margate, Ashford and Canterbury) were in use for covid patients and 15 covid patients were on mechanical ventilation.
Across England the greatest number of deaths has been recorded in those aged 60 and over. Nationally just under 300 deaths were recorded for those aged 0-39.
Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate but may not be the primary cause of death.
The figures are updated daily, although there is some time lag on some statistics. They can be found on the government dashboard here and here and on the KCC website here
Tonight MPs are due to vote on the legislation for covid tier restrictions tonight but there is rebellion amongst Tory backbenchers and Labour looks set to abstain.
PM Boris Johnson has promised a more ‘granular’ approach to restrictions in the first review on December 16 and announced a one-off, £1,000 payment for wet pubs in December in a bid to persuade MPs to back him.
UPDATE: Covid tier measures are passed by a vote of 291 to 78.
