Star date: 11th February 2021

NO MORE TIERS! SAYS GM MAYOR ANDY BURNHAM

Salford has 65 new coronavirus cases, the same as the previous day, while the seven day rate per 100,000 population now stands at 265.8, down from 274.7. There have been two new virus-related deaths at Salford Royal Hospital.

Meanwhile, at yesterday's GM Leaders press conference, GM Mayor Andy Burnham called for a nationally phased sector release out of lockdown rather than a return to tiers which didn't work last time and trapped the North in never ending restrictions.

Full details here...

Salford has 65 new coronavirus cases, the same as the previous day, bringing the cumulative total to 20,588. The seven day average of cases in Salford has decreased to 688, down from 711, while the seven day rate per 100,000 population now stands at 265.8, down from 274.7.

Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, the seven day average of cases in Bury is 375 (down from 387), with a seven day rate per 100,000 population of 196.3 (down from 202.6); Bolton 795 (down from 800), with a rate of 276.5 (down from 278.2); Manchester 1,422 (down from 1,500), with a rate of 257.2 (down from 271.3); and Oldham 505 (down from 531), with a rate of 213 (down from 223.9).
 
Rochdale has a seven day average of cases of 516 (down from 524), with a seven day rate of 232 (down from 235.6); Stockport 661 (down from 699), with a rate of 225.3 (down from 238.2); Tameside 422 (down from 448), with a rate of 186.3 (down from 197.8); Trafford 432 (down from 464), with a rate of 182 (down from 195.5); and Wigan 747 (down from 777), with a rate of 227.3 (down from 236.4).
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There have been two new virus-related deaths at Salford Royal Hospital.

Meanwhile, at yesterday's GM Leaders' press conference, it was mostly good news, as the percentage of care home residents in the region with COVID-19 or showing symptoms of the virus fell from 2.1% on 2nd February, to 1.7% on 9th February.

Weekly admissions to GM hospitals and in-patient diagnosis also fell from 773 on 1st February, to 671 on 8th February, while the total number of beds with COVID patients in them fell from 1,016 on 2nd February, to 872 on 9th February. The number of COVID patients in ICU or intensive care beds also fell from 170 to 160 during that period.

GM Health Lead, Richard Leese, said that while the pressure on hospitals is declining, elective surgery probably will not be back to normal until the end of March as staff are exhausted and need some recovery time.

While cases appear to be dropping in Salford, the amount of Pillar 2 testing has risen, from 4,673 on 30th January, to 5,089 on 6th February. Testing numbers are about to go up even further with intensive targeted testing.

539,494 first doses of vaccine have also now been administered to people in the top four cohorts in Greater Manchester, with lots more added to the 'high risk' group - 117,243 now, up from the previous 12,830 people who were originally eligible.

With vaccinations going well and cases dropping, the talk has turned to a route out of lockdowns, and Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, relayed what the GM Leaders have advised the Government in advance of its announcements on 22nd February...

"The first thing we did was look at some lessons learned from 2020" he said, showing that Greater Manchester was released too early from lockdown with much higher case rates than the rest of the country. When schools re-opened on 1st June 2020 the case rate in Greater Manchester was 28.9, compared to 4.6 in London and 16.6 in England. And when the pubs re-opened on 4th July the GM case rate was 13.4, as opposed to 3.2 in London and 6.6 in England (see graphic).

"We have always maintained that the case rate was too high here when the first lockdown was lifted...which had the affect of trapping us in restrictions for the second half of 2020 because the numbers never went down as low as we would have wanted them to" Burnham explained.

"There's a debate now building again about 'Is it back to tiers or is it to remain in a national position?'" he asked, adding that it was a very different context now, with the new strains of virus but also that tiers didn't work in lowering infection rates.

"The risk is of repeating the mistake of last year, that we lift lockdown too early for the North of England, return to tiers and then trap part of the country and North in those ineffective tiers for much of 2021 and that is something we believe must be avoided" he explained.

"When new strains are around it makes sense to move at the pace of the slowest rather than what happened last year which was that lockdown was released looking at the figures in the place that was first experiencing the growth in cases, London and the South East" he said. In other words, wait until the areas with the highest rates start to see a major decline in cases before acting.

"We would say start with schools in early March but then there should be a phased release from lockdown as and when it's safe to do so, bringing sectors back that can be brought back safely, leaving in national financial support systems for those who will take longest to return" Burnham concluded.

And finally, Salford Council has released some statistics showing that during the first three months of the first lockdown the Council removed 200 tonnes more litter and fly tipping than in the previous year, as parks and greenspaces have had an increase of users by over 50%.