INFECTION RATES ABOVE AVERAGE IN LONDON BOROUGHS

TWO London boroughs have coronavirus infection rates above the national average, the Evening Standard can reveal.

Kensington and Chelsea and Hounslow had the highest rates of new cases detected in the capital by a combination of hospital and community testing, Public Health England figures show. Three neighbouring west London boroughs — Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster and Brent — were among the next highest in London, though their rates were below the average for England.

It came as a top respiratory diseases expert, Professor Peter Openshaw of Imperial College London, warned: “We are by no means over with this pandemic.”

The figures, relating to June 15 to 24, are believed to be the first that are broken down by borough and show the combined results from “pillar one” tests of patients and staff in hospital and “pillar two” tests in the community.

Public Health England’s daily online “dashboard” currently shows only “pillar one” results, leading to criticism that communities are unable to spot a spike or second wave of infections.

About 70 per cent of tests are now being carried out in the community, for example at drive-in centres or mobile units. The figures show that 7.7 cases per 100,000 people were detected in Kensington and Chelsea, the capital’s wealthiest borough, while 7.4 per 100,000 were found in Hounslow.

The average infection rate for England is currently 6.7 though it was 10.7 at the start of the period when the latest figures were obtained.

The rate was 5.9 in Hammersmith and Fulham, 5.1 in Westminster and in Brent — which has the highest cumulative infection rate in London since the pandemic began — and 4.1 in Ealing. Waltham Forest was 5.4.

Bigger infection rates were detected in commuter areas outside the capital: 42 in Bedford, 27.9 in Peterborough, 26.6 in Luton and 20.8 in Southend. By comparison, Leicester’s rate was 140.2, though it has since fallen slightly to 135.7, a PHE investigation into the city’s outbreak revealed last night. Lockdown was tightened in the city yesterday.

Of the 230,807 pillar one and two cases detected in England by June 24, 33,323 were in London.

The latest weekly report showed new confirmed cases continuing to decline across the country, to 5,700.

Most new cases are in north or central England and in older people, in particular in the 85-plus age group.