Oldham brings in door-to-door coronavirus testing as outbreak sees town at risk of lockdown
OLDHAM is set to introduce door-to-door coronavirus testing after an outbreak put the town at risk of lockdown.
The tests will be rolled out in Oldham's hardest hit areas from next week after the Greater Manchester town recorded 109 cases in the last seven days.
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The spike comes just days after the town was taken off the government's watch list.
Councillors confirmed that cases are on the rise in younger people aged 20-40 and in socially deprived districts with a high BAME population, including Oldham’s Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities.
Public health director Katrina Stephens said: “What we’ve announced today and the measures that we’re asking people to take are extra precautions to try and avoid a local lockdown needing to be put in place in future.
“Over the last month we have seen several weeks of reducing numbers of cases despite the fact that we’ve been increasing the amount of testing that we’ve been doing.
“However unfortunately in the last week we’ve seen a really rapid increase in the number of people who are testing positive.
“What’s very clear is we now need to take some additional action to make sure we are doing our best to protect the health of everyone, to save lives and also to prevent a local lockdown being needed.”
The rise in infections has been attributed to people moving between households rather than large scale social events.
Local health chiefs will review data on a daily basis and will assess the situation in a fortnight to see if they can ease the stricter measures put in place.
The new measures include a ban on social visitors and telling the vulnerable to shield until August 14.
Cabinet member for Covid-19 recovery and deputy council leader Arooj Shah said: “I have to stress this isn’t anything to do with behavioural issues.
"We haven’t got any concerns about people not adhering to guidelines around Eid.”
She added that religious leaders have "robust" measures in place to support people and there are "no concerns around enforcement."
She told BBC Breakfast today that the residents had been "absolutely fantastic" in lockdown and "in that same spirit of coming together and helping to save lives will continue to do that."
The area recorded 119 new cases of coronavirus in the seven days to July 25 - compared to 26 positive new cases from the previous week.
This means Oldham has a rate of infection of 50.2 positive tests per 100,000 people.
Oldham tries to avoids local lockdown
THE area has introduced new rules, including:
- No social visitors to homes outside of those in a support bubble
- Those who are shielding should extend their isolation by at least another two weeks
- Care homes will not relax restrictions on care home visiting to protect older and vulnerable people
- Limit contact with other people and respect social distancing - including keeping at least 2 metres from those not in your household and avoid shaking hands or hugging
- When meeting people outside, locals should meet in groups of no more than 6 people from different households
- Everything possible should be done to avoid taking part in gatherings of more than 30 people
- Wear a mask
- Door-to-door testing
It was just 10.2 the week before as the government dropped the borough from its "watch-list".
As a result of the surge in cases, locals are now being urged to stay home wherever possible to avoid a Leicester-style local lockdown.
Leicester went back into lockdown on June 30 after a spike in infections, with all non-essential retail stores closed as well as hospitality venues which reopened in the rest of the UK on July 4.
Cllr Shah said: "We know that people across Oldham desperately want to see their friends and family, and get back to normal.
"But these restrictions are essential if we are to stop the spread of coronavirus and prevent a strict local lockdown being put in place, as we have seen elsewhere in the country.”
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The move follows similar restrictions in Blackburn after an alarming spike in cases.
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Blackburn and Darwen Council called on locals to "elbow bump" with anyone outside of their immediate family and imposed a limit of two people from the same household allowed to visit another home.
It come as cases soared in the area, with 61 new cases appearing in the week before the restrictions were imposed.
