Door-to-door testing after Covid cases treble in area of Derbyshire amid Indian Variant concerns

Derbyshire County Council is working with NHS Test and Trace, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, High Peak Borough Council and NHS Tameside and Glossop Clinical Commissioning Group in an effort to slow the transmission rate in Gamesley.

It comes as the weekly cases of coronavirus in the Gamesley and Glossop area have trebled.

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In the final two weeks of May, 63 people tested positive for Covid – of which 42 were either confirmed or suspected to be variants of concern – compared to 22 people who tested positive in the last two weeks of April.

Every household in Gamesley will get free PCR tests delivered to their door on Thursday or Friday (3 and 4 June) and people over the age of five at each address will be encouraged to take a test.

A walk-in vaccination clinic will also be held in Gamesley on Saturday, June 5 for those eligible people living in the area who have yet to take up the offer of having their first dose of the vaccine.

Derbyshire’s Director of Public Health Dean Wallace described the outbreak of COVID-19 as concerning and urged everyone living in the area to use the PCR tests to protect their loved ones, their friends and their community.

He said:“Despite all our best efforts cases of COVID-19 continue to rise in Gamesley, including the variant first discovered in India. This significant outbreak reminds us that we cannot afford to let our guard down as we ease out of restrictions.

“While there’s no evidence that this strain causes a more serious illness and the vaccines remain highly effective in protecting us against it, it does spread more easily – which is why we need everyone to be on their guard.

Fire service, public health and council staff will drop off free PCR test kits to residents on Thursday and Friday and will then return later to collect them for testing in a laboratory.

People are asked to take the test, whether they have symptoms or not, as one in three people can carry the virus without showing any symptoms and could be passing it on without knowing.

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