Sheffield off Government coronavirus 'watchlist' - but another part of South Yorkshire added

Sheffield has been removed from the Government’s coronavirus ‘watchlist’ after a further drop in the rate of infection.
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The city was last week downgraded from an ‘area for enhanced support’ to an ‘area of concern’ and has now been taken off the list altogether, according to the latest Weekly Surveillance Report from Public Health England, published yesterday, Thursday, July 23.

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Sheffield’s infection rate for the seven days ending on Sunday, July 19 fell to 11.2 confirmed cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population, down from 12.9 the previous week.

Sheffield's coronavirus infection rate is now outside the top 20 nationally, while Doncaster is no longer in the top 50 (pic: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Sheffield's coronavirus infection rate is now outside the top 20 nationally, while Doncaster is no longer in the top 50 (pic: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Sheffield's coronavirus infection rate is now outside the top 20 nationally, while Doncaster is no longer in the top 50 (pic: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
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Rotherham was added to the watchlist as an ‘area of concern’ after the rate of infection there rose from 14.7 cases per 100,000 last week to 23.1.

It is now one of 13 areas across the country coming under extra scrutiny due to the rate of infection.

In Doncaster, the rate of infection fell again, from 6.8 to 5.2, while in Barnsley it rose slightly from 9.4 to 13.9.

At one point, all four local authorities in South Yorkshire were in the top 10 nationally for infection rates, but while Rotherham is still eighth in the table, Barnsley is down to 16th, Sheffield is in 22nd place and Doncaster is 53rd out of 148 local authorities on the list.

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York has the lowest infection rate of any city, at 1.0; the rate in Manchester is 13.0; in Birmingham it is 12.3; and in Leeds it stands at 6.1.

Leicester (70.1) has been overtaken by Blackburn with Darwen (79.2) as the local authority with the highest rate of infection, with both classified as ‘areas of intervention’, alongside Oadby & Wigston, in Leicestershire, and Luton.

Public Health England said in its report that emergency department attendances with a Covid-19-like diagnosis remained stable, as did hospital and critical care admissions, with deaths continuing to fall.

The rolling seven-day infection rate up to July 20, based on the daily figures published by Public Health England, puts the infection rate in Sheffield at 12.0 cases per 100,000 population, with Doncaster at 3.9, Rotherham at 17.8 and Barnsley at 16.3.

As of 9am on Tuesday, July 21, a total of 254,59 people across England had tested positive for Covid-19.