Over 1,700 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the last seven days in Wiltshire.


In the last week, 1,784 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the county. This means that Wiltshire’s seven-day infection rate per 100,000 is 356.8.


While this is still below the England average of 520.4 it is still very high, warns public health director Kate Blackburn.


“Over the last seven days we’ve seen our rates stay relatively constant, but that’s constant at a high level,” she said.


Up to January 1, there have been 474 registered deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate. An increase of 12 deaths from the previous week’s figures.


Mrs Blackburn said: “While it is encouraging that Covid cases are no longer rising at the fast rate we saw earlier in the month, the number of cases in the population is still very high.


“It’s vital that we all follow the rules. We need to bring the case rate down to reduce the number of individuals becoming ill and to alleviate pressure on our health and care system, businesses and educational settings.”


In care homes, however, there has been a recorded rise in cases with 40 homes reporting new cases on the weekend of January 14 compared with 30 the week prior.


The public health boss admitted this was because of an increase in larger outbreaks in care homes.


The public health boss said her team were supporting 61 education settings (schools, early years settings) with 88 positive cases of Covid-19.


Mrs Blackburn added that the numbers on the outbreak management team were increased to ensure the local authority can meet demand.


“Great Western Hospital in Swindon has recently declared a critical incident and other hospitals in our local area are really feeling the pressure,” she said.


“We all need to support them and each other by making the right choices and staying home as much as we can.”


Across Wiltshire 97 per cent of cases are being traced by the national Track & Trace or by the local team.