Covid-19 update 9 April 2021

Gloucestershire County Council sent this bulletin at 09-04-2021 04:33 PM BST

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Key messages

On Monday 5 April, Government confirmed plans for easing restrictions across England from 12 April. Outdoor pubs, shops, gyms and hairdressers can reopen. Outdoor gatherings must still be limited to 6 people or 2 households, and you must not socialise indoors with anyone you do not live with or have not formed a support bubble with.
The Government has announced that everyone in England without symptoms will be able to get twice weekly rapid Covid-19 tests from Friday 9 April Community Collect points have opened at all four of GCC’s community testing centres to complement on site testing. Government has also launched Pharmacy Collect, which pharmacies will be joining over the coming weeks. For more information, visit the testing pages on our website. To find your nearest testing or collection site, visit the NHS website.
Even though we are now allowed to socialise more, it’s still important to follow the rules around hands, face, space and fresh air as well as getting a regular rapid test if you have no symptoms, but have to leave the house for essential reasons, and taking up the offer of a vaccination when invited.
Our "Keep going…it will be worth it" campaign continues, highlighting what people can do from 12 April as we enter stage two of the roadmap. You can find and download our campaign assets from Flickr.
Great Western Railway Update:

"As the gradual lifting of Covid-19 restrictions begins, from today (Monday 29 March) we will be strengthening our busiest services and from 12 April more of our long-distance Intercity services will run with 9 or 10 carriages. Advice remains to keep travel to the minimum, but we want to be sure that we are providing customers with the services they need so that they can return to rail and travel with confidence when the time is right.

We are also planning further additional services in our summer timetable, which starts on Sunday 16 May, which will bring us back to around 90% of our usual timetable. You should now be able to see these in online journey planners so that customers considering trips to the South Cotswolds over the summer can book ahead.

We know that rail has a key role to play in the regional economy, especially for tourism, as we recover from the pandemic, and we want to be sure we are getting this right, if you have any suggestions, or questions, about current or future services, do let me know. We are listening and we want to help."

Mobile Testing Unit (MTU) locations⁶

Cinderford RFC, Dockham Rd, Cinderford GL14 2AQ (Monday-Tuesday)
Dursley Rugby Club, Hounds Green, Dursley GL11 6AJ (Tuesday)
Royal Agricultural University, Stroud Road, Cirencester, GL7 6JS (Monday-Friday)
North RFC, Stoke Orchard Road, Bishops Cleeve, GL52 7DG (Tuesday-Wednesday)
Stow RFC, Oddington Road, Stow on the Wold, GL54 1JJ (Wednesday)
Car Park off Newerne Street, Lydney, GL15 5RA (Thursday-Friday)
Car Park, Oldends Lane, Stonehouse, GL10 2DG (Thursday-Sunday)
University Of Gloucestershire, Entrance 3, Park Campus, The Park, Cheltenham, GL50 2RH (Saturday-Sunday)
Hartpury University & Hartpury College, Gloucester, GL19 3BE (Saturday-Sunday)
Lower Lode Depot, Lower Lode Lane, Tewkesbury, GL20 5TT (Thursday - Monday)

Permanent Testing Site Locations

PCR Testing Sites

Gloucester RTS

Hempsted Meadows, David Hook Way, Gloucester, GL2 5LE

Cheltenham LTS

High Street Car Park, Cheltenham, GL50 4AL

Stroud LTS

Stratford Park Leisure Centre, Stratford Road, Stroud, GL5 4AF

You can book a test here for one of these sites if you have any COVID-19 symptoms.

Community Testing Sites (LFD)

Gloucester City

The Friendship Café @ Chequers, Painswick Road, Gloucester, GL4 6PR

Cirencester

Royal Agricultural University, Stroud Road, Cirencester,GL7 6JS

Forest of Dean

Miners Welfare Hall, Parragate Road,
Cinderford, GL14 2JN

Tewkesbury

The Link Youth Support Centre,
Link Road, Tewkesbury,
GL20 5JQ

You can book a test here for one of these sites if you do not have any COVID-19 symptoms.

LFD Home Test Collection

As of 9th April anyone can collect LFD kits for use at home from any of the locations listed here, including some pharmacies.

National updates

9 April 2021

Gloucestershire Covid-19 stats

Link to graph showing daily cases by local authority (Please open in Google Chrome)

Cases:

In week 14 (Monday 29 March – Sunday 4April) there were 63 confirmed cases of COVID19.

Of these cases:

14 were in Gloucester
12 were in Cheltenham
10 were in Tewkesbury
10 were in Cotswold
9 were in Stroud
8 were in Forest of Dean

* Please note these figures are provisional and subject to change. (Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ as at 16:00 07/04/2021)

The rate of cases in the last 7 days per 100,000 is 12.4 in Gloucestershire, 18.5 in the South West, and 36.1 in England.

Deaths mentioning COVID19

In week 12 (Saturday 20 March– Friday 26 March) there was 1 death mentioning “novel coronavirus (COVID-19)”, which is 1.1% of all deaths, this compares with 5 (5.4% of all deaths) in Week 11

*Please note these figures are based on all deaths registered by the 3 April, they are provisional and will be subject to change. They include deaths that make any mention of COVID-19 on the death certificate. (Source: Weekly provisional figures on deaths occurring and registered in England and Wales by Local Authority)

*Please note the dates above, the ONS weeks run from Saturday- Friday and we are unable to change this.

Deaths in NHS Trusts² - 611 (0 new)

Deaths in care homes⁴ - 406 (0 new)

Key links

National Guidance

General NHS advice

Latest advice and developments from Gloucestershire NHS

Gloucestershire's Community Help Hub

Council service updates

Make an adult social care referral

Business advice and support

Looking after your wellbeing

Support for children and families during Covid-19

Your questions answered

To make sure your questions get answered promptly by the team, please continue to send your questions directly to democratic.services@gloucestershire.gov.uk

¹ The above data reflects nationally published data available here.

² This section contains information on deaths of patients who have died in hospitals in Gloucestershire and had tested positive for Covid-19 at time of death or where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. All deaths are recorded against the date of death rather than the date the deaths were announced. It is based on national NHS data published here.

³ Weekly death figures provide provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales for which data are available. From 31 March 2020 these figures also show the number of deaths involving coronavirus (Covid-19), based on any mention of Covid-19 on the death certificate. Figures by place of death may differ to previously published figures due to improvements in the way we code place of death. This figure does not include deaths of those resident outside England and Wales or those records where the place of residence is either missing or not yet fully coded. For this reason counts may differ to published figures when summed. Bank Holidays could affect the number of registrations made within those weeks.

⁴ Care homes vary in size and in the characteristics of their residents. Outbreak data is also being reported publicly here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/covid-19-number-of-outbreaks-in-care-homes-management-information. The figures here are slightly lower than our local figures due to a time lag. The number of cases (confirmed or suspected) has not been reported due to limitations in data accuracy which means comparison is not possible. This information is being used for operational purposes. As testing in care homes increases we will review whether adding this information will add additional strategic insight.

⁵ CQC publish figures on deaths where Covid-19 was suspected in the notification from the care home, as well as all cause mortality (since 10 April 2020). It is probable that not all deaths due to Covid-19 will be notified as such, conversely Covid-19 may be mentioned but not have been a contributory factor in a death). While CQC numbers are more comprehensive than local reporting, they are not currently reported by district council.

⁶ Please note that there is a possibility of last minute changes if the MTU’s are diverted to assist with outbreak control both in this county or elsewhere.