Covid in Sheffield: Nearly one in 50 people test positive as South Yorkshire infection rate rockets

There were 11,027 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the city during the week ending January 1, the latest Government figures show, which equates to 1,871.5 new cases per 100,000 people.

As recently as mid-December, before the more transmissible Omicron variant took hold here, the city’s case rate stood at a little over 300 per 100,000 people.

The weekly case rate in Sheffield is now higher than the UK average of 1,791.7 cases per 100,000 people, but it remains the lowest in South Yorkshire.

In Barnsley, there were 5,272 cases during the latest week – a rate of 2,125,2.

In Doncaster, another 6,234 people tested positive, giving a rate of 1,993.1.

And in Rotherham, there were another 5,965 confirmed cases and a rate of 2,251.1.

The UK’s highest case rate is 4,475.6 in Derry City and Strabane, while St Helens has the highest rate in England, at 2,685.3.

Data for the latest five days, January 2-6, is excluded from the Government figures as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals this week revealed that the number of Covid patients on its wards had leapt from 75 before the festive season to 234 as of January 4, but it said fewer patients required critical care than during previous waves.

Noting the rapidly rising case rate within the city, the trust’s chief executive Kirsten Major encouraged anyone who is not fully vaccinated to get jabbed.

For details of vaccination clinics in Sheffield, visit: https://www.sth.nhs.uk/news/news?action=view&newsID=1322.