By Maria Zaccaro, Local Democracy Reporter
A spike of Coronavirus cases has been recorded in city education settings.
The number of cases identified in education settings in the city went from one in the week between June 7–13 to 51 in the following week.
The data released by Southampton City Council refer to all primary and secondary schools in the city as well as colleges, sixth forms and early years settings such as nurseries and childminders.
The authority said the weekly figure refers to the number of individual children, pupils and staff who have tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr Debbie Chase, the director of Public Health at the city council, said: “Southampton’s school leaders and staff have worked incredibly hard over the past 15 months to limit the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately the presence of a more transmissable variant, alongside easing of restrictions, has presented an additional challenge and we would expect to see rising case rates in the city begin to feed through into an increase in cases in education settings.”
The weekly rate of infection in the city is 112.9 x 100,000 population - higher than the South East rate of 72.5.
Dr Chase said parents and carers can help by following the guidance and taking part in regular symptom-free rapid testing. Earlier this month she also urged residents to get vaccinated as experts said it’s “the best protection we have” against the virus.
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
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