Atherstone puts mobile unit on Covid-19 numbers 'to the test'

TWO-DAY OPERATION IN BOROUGH COUNCIL AND PUBLIC CAR PARKS IN WOOLPACK WAY

PART OF 'BELT AND TRACES' STRATEGIC RESPONSE PLAN IN THE EVENT OF A LOCAL LOCKDOWN

THE AUTHORITIES are taking no chances of any likelihood of a Covid-19 local lockdown in Atherstone and North Warwickshire.

The borough council, supported Warwickshire County Council and Ministry of Defence, is determined to keep the lid on the spread of the virus.

The town and wider borough have found themselves in the fortunate position of being a Midlands' back marker for people predicted to have the infection – recording none on the national symptom tracker in recent days.

And yesterday – as if on cue – when that predicted figure rose slightly to 442 cases per million population, Atherstone saw the arrival of a mobile testing unit to facilitate a "quick response" to local outbreaks.

The MTU – covering the borough council and public car parks in Woolpack Way – is being operated in partnership with Sodexo and will offer assisted and self-administered tests.

Sean Haley, regional chairman of Sodexo UK and Ireland said: "Sodexo teams have moved quickly to set up Covid-19 testing centres as part of the industry-wide effort to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic."

While the mobile centre finishes a 36-hour operational stint at 4pm today, North Warwickshire Borough Council's leader Councillor David Wright stressed its purpose "does not in any way mean that there is any case for concern in Atherstone", adding: "This forms an important part of our emergency planning and preparedness work."

Nub News saw an early trickle of visitors to the centre this morning.

Daily testing capacity is 337,089 with actual numbers processed standing at 182,987. Overall the total processed is 14.5 million in the UK.

Former prime minister Tony Blair has called for the Government to roll out mass testing for Covid-19 before the end of 2020.

He said: "I think the Government has got to change the way it calculates risk. "In every single aspect of this, once you realise you're not going to eradicate the disease, you're going to have to contain it and live with it at least until a vaccine comes, then you've just got to have a sensible risk calculus in every area." Meanwhile, North Warwickshire has now reported 354 Covid-19 cases since March (up four in the last week) – at a rate of 542.4 per 100,000 population compared with hotspot neighbouring Nuneaton and Bedworth's 923 cases (up 15 in the same time frame) at 710.3 per 100,000. Warwickshire's total of confirmed cases stands at 2,676 (up 42 in a week) with a rate per 100,000 of 463. Last reported eaths county-wide totalled 535.

The UK total today is 318,484 – an increase on the last 24 hours of 1,040.

The newly calculated death toll stands at 41,366 – the figure adjusted by more than 5,000 – a rise of just five in a day.

In eight weeks the world total for infections has tripled from 7.2 million cases to 21.85 million.

There were more than 294,000 new cases of Covid-19 recorded globally on Saturday, according to World Health Organisation figures – the biggest single rises of new cases in a 24-hours period since the pandemic began.

The record number of cases reflects more than 160,000 in the Americas and nearly 30,000 in Europe amid a resurgence in several countries.

The Italian government moved to make masks mandatory between 6pm and 6am in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus after recording more than 600 cases in a single day.

The country – the first in Europe to institute a lockdown – also closed nightclubs amid the uptick in cases.