Coronavirus infection rates have fallen in all ten boroughs of Greater Manchester. But the decline in the virus comes as the vaccine efforts ramp up ahead of the autumn months, with one vaccine urging people to get jabbed and 'not worry what type of Covid vaccine they're getting'.
Stockport continues to have the highest coronavirus infection rate in Greater Manchester. The borough recorded a rate of 102.3 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending August 6, according to the latest data from the UK Health Security Agency.
The lowest infection rate is in Oldham, where the rate is 56.0 cases per 100,000 people. In Greater Manchester as a whole, the infection rate is now 78.4 cases per 100,000 population. The infection rate in the region is lower than the national average, which is 85.9 cases per 100,000 people.
The figures come as the government's drive to get people vaccinated in the autumn starts in earnest. Adults over 50 and clinically vulnerable people will be offered the first Covid-19 jab to target two strains of the virus, as part of the UK’s autumn booster programme.
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The new vaccine and the September rollout
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said that Moderna’s new bivalent vaccine, which targets both the original Covid strain and the Omicron variant, will be part of the vaccine rollout from early September. People over the age of five who are classed as most at risk from the virus will be eligible, as will their household contacts, NHS frontline and care home staff and carers aged 16 or over.
The UK became the first country to authorise the vaccine, which has been described as “next generation” by experts. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the jab on Monday.
The health secretary said those eligible for the autumn booster rollout would be contacted from early September.
Although government ministers have confirmed that the 26 million people eligible for an autumn booster will have access to one of the next-generation jabs, vaccine experts have highlighted that people should not worry about what kind of jab they receive.
“The key point is that people need to get vaccinated rather than worrying too much about the type of vaccine that they’re receiving,” Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told BBC Breakfast.
“These are all very good vaccines, which have proven efficacy against severe disease – that’s hospitalisation and death.
“The whole basis of the programme is to target those vulnerable people for a booster to keep their immunity topped up for protection against severe disease.
“So the message really is get vaccinated with your booster and don’t worry too much about the type of vaccine that you’re getting.
“But for simplicity’s sake, we’ll be trying to use one vaccine and we believe that this bivalent vaccine is potentially a very good vaccine and so we’ll be using that in the first instance.”
Infections
A total of 2,224 people tested positive for coronavirus across Greater Manchester in the week which ended on August 6. The Greater Manchester weekly total has decreased by 690 cases compared to the previous week, which means the infection rate was down 24 per cent in the last week.
The infection rate is higher than the national average in 3 areas of Greater Manchester. It is lower than the national average in 7 areas.
Infection rates have been a less accurate way of monitoring the true scale of the Covid spread since free mass testing was revoked earlier this year. Health chiefs have warned that people are less likely to take and report tests now the system is not mandatory and free.
Hospital admissions
In the week ending on August 7, a total of 435 patients were admitted to Greater Manchester NHS hospitals with Covid-19. That is 110 fewer than the week before, a fall of 34 per cent.
On Tuesday August 9, there were 20 Mechanical Ventilation (MV) beds occupied by Covid patients in Greater Manchester NHS hospitals. That is one fewer than a week earlier.
Deaths
In the week ending August 13, a total of 46 people died within 28 days of a positive Covid test across Greater Manchester, which is 17 fewer than the week before. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a total of 1,040,422 confirmed coronavirus cases in Greater Manchester. There has been a total of 9,780 deaths.
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