Coronavirus: Case Numbers On The Rise In South Derbyshire

South Derbyshire is now one of two areas of the county which has higher rates of new Covid-19 cases than once high-flyer Nottingham - with Derby drawing level.

Nottingham once had a case rate of more than 800 per 100,000 people per week, the highest in the country, but this has fallen dramatically in recent weeks to 384 in the week to October 30.

But South Derbyshire and Bolsover now have higher case rates than Nottingham with 397 and 391 respectively per 100,000 people.

Derby now sits a hair's breadth behind Nottingham's current level at 383 cases per 100,000 people.

Bolsover, Derby and South Derbyshire were all only put into tier 2 restrictions on Saturday (October 2), remaining in basic measures while cases surged and added mitigation was brought to neighbouring counties and districts.

The whole of Nottinghamshire now sits in tier 3 but has been in tier 2 for more than two weeks.

Its districts have case rates either similar or lower than Derbyshire's, despite its differing treatment.

Most of Derbyshire's districts have case rates more than double the national average.

England will be put in lockdown on Thursday, November 5 for at least 28 days, until Wednesday, December 2.

Once lockdown comes to an end – and ministers have hinted it may be extended in December – the country will return to its tiered system.

This would see the country return to a mix of tier 1, 2 and 3 restrictions and clear definitions around what measurements will be tracked to define each area's tier have yet to be made.

Derbyshire and Derby's public health and virus experts were calling for extra mitigation for weeks before it was granted by government – days before full lockdown and the temporary scrapping of the tiered restriction system.

On Wednesday, October 28 Derbyshire as a whole, including Derby, reported more than 600 confirmed cases in a day for the first time.

Figures for the previous peak of the pandemic are not comparable due to the lack of community testing at the time.

The county clocked 608 cases in one day.

At the start of October it was taking around four and a half days to achieve this figure.

Derby saw its highest daily total on the same day – 181 new cases.

Derby is now approaching 1,000 new cases per week, with 986 in the week to October 30.

More than a third of all the cases Derby saw in the whole October came in that week – triple the amount the city accumulated in the whole of September.

Bolsover reported 94 cases in the first week of October and it has now reported 315 cases in the most recent week, tripling within the month.

South Derbyshire clocked 89 cases in the first week of the month, accumulating more than four times that figure in the most recent week.

Both South Derbyshire and Bolsover have until four days ago avoided any additional measures.

In the week to October 30, Derbyshire as a whole reported 3,596 new Covid cases, more than the total number seen in the first half of the month.

Here are the rates of new Covid-19 cases for each Derbyshire district for the week October 24-30, along with the corresponding number of new cases:

•Amber Valley: 285 cases per 100,000 people, 365 new cases

•Bolsover: 391, 315

•Chesterfield: 329, 345

•Derbyshire Dales: 181, 131

•Derby: 383, 986

•Erewash: 337, 389

•High Peak: 299, 277

•North East Derbyshire: 357, 362

•South Derbyshire: 397, 426

The national average is 153 cases per 100,000 people in the week to October 30.

For comparison, Liverpool had a case rate of 352 with 1,754 new cases; Leicester 370 with 1,311 new cases; Nottingham 384 with 1,277 new cases; Sheffield 408 with 2,388 new cases; Manchester 469 with 2,591 new cases; and Blackburn with Darwen had 729 with 1,091 new cases.