Coronavirus cases have continued to fall across Hackney, with the lowest number of new infections recorded last week since September.  Â
The most recent weekly figures from Public Health England show that only 89 people in the borough reported having the virus between 27 February and 5 March. This was a 36% drop from the previous week.Â
It is yet to be seen whether schools returning to face-to-face teaching from 8 March will negatively impact the R rate. The most recent Coronavirus figures from 5 March put the R rate in London between 0.6 and 0.8. As long as the range is below 1 the pandemic is shrinking.Â
Compared with other London boroughs, Hackney and The City recorded a relatively low number of Coronavirus cases last week, with 31 per 100,000 people. In comparison, Ealing had the highest incidence of cases per 100,000 with 72 and Lewisham the lowest, with only 19.Â
Since the pandemic began, there has been a total of 20,999 Coronavirus cases in Hackney and 490 registered deaths. Three of these deaths were recorded in the last week.
Local medics and politicians are tackling a low uptake in the vaccine amongst Hackney residents. The Hackney Citizen reported that just 63 per cent of over 80-year-olds have been vaccinated in the borough.Â
A Hackney Council focus group to test vaccine hesitancy revealed that people wanted clear information such as how to get the vaccine, how it was developed, and the risks associated with it. They were less interested in hearing why they should choose to get it.Â
Hackney Council plan to test different communication campaigns on different audiences to increase uptake in the vaccine. They will focus on young people and minority groups since data has shown them to be less likely to get the vaccine.
