BRACKNELL Forest’s top public health chief said they expect the borough’s rate of infection to go up again despite a drop in transmissions recently.

The borough’s weekly rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 people reached a peak of 849.5 on January 1 2021 (data published January 6) but has since fallen to 698.5 on January 6 (data published January 11).

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Bracknell Forest public health chief Charlotte Pavitt offered an explanation for why the rate had been going down at a meeting of the council’s outbreak engagement board earlier this week.

She said: “Whilst the rate is reducing, it’s reducing very slowly, and when we compare it to two weeks previous, it’s still a 19 per cent increase.

“So it’s still higher than it was two weeks ago, but it is on the way down. The number of tests over the Christmas period did reduce quite significantly.

“That was the same right across the country with a lot of people getting tested up to the 20th of December and choosing not to get tested over the Christmas period.

“It may well be this reduction we are seeing at the moment is partly down to that.”

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However, data published on January 12 (which is the true figure for January 7) showed an increase in the weekly rate from 698.5 to 721.1.

Latest available data published on January 13 showed another dip, however, with the rate falling to 712.4 (for January 8).

Ms Pavitt told the board another surge in the rate had been expected.

She continued: “We need to continue to monitor the rate, the expectation is after this initial dip it will continue to increase.

“The number of tests since the Christmas period has, however, increased.”

The officer later added: “There’s been a reduction nationally, across the south-east and when we look across West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Reading, Slough and Wokingham.

“Everybody has seen this reduction, it’s just Bracknell’s has been bigger than others.

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“As I’ve stated, it is likely this is a result of a reduction in tests, but it’s something we will keep an eye on and see where that goes in the coming weeks.”

The board meeting took place on Tuesday, January 12.

Disclaimer: Government coronavirus data is published daily but with a five-day lag. This means data published on a particular day is the true data for the date five-days prior. For example, data published on January 13 would be the true data for January 8.