Covid Indian variant: Bedford council calls for over-16s vaccines

A council has called for all residents aged 16 and over to be vaccinated due to a rise of the Indian Covid variant.

Bedford Borough Council said the rate of Covid infections per 100,000 people had risen from 39.8 to 84.3 in a week.

The authority's director of public health, Vicky Head, said it was "likely" the increase was due to the variant first identified in India.

Ahead of restrictions easing on Monday, Ms Head said the borough was "at a precarious point".

"Be cautious," she said. "Just because the rules say you can do something, doesn't mean you have to or you should.

"Perhaps just think twice and stay outdoors as much as you possibly can."

Ms Head said the authority was "working very closely" with schools in the area as the highest increase in cases had been among those aged 11-22.

A meeting on Thursday was told public health chiefs believed the borough was now back to where it was in October and November and that the majority of the 34 Indian variant cases so far identified were "not travel related" but may have been spread by social activities among friends.

Ian Brown, chief officer for public health, said: "I believe that we've been unlucky in Bedford in that there were maybe a series of unfortunate events that led to a couple of gatherings and some super-spreading that's now seeded into a number of our areas."

The situation in Bedford Hospital was described as "stable" and there has not been an increase in deaths.

In nearby Milton Keynes, pupils in year nine and some staff at The Radcliffe School are being tested after a number of cases of the Indian variant were linked to the school.

A mobile testing facility will be on-site to carry out PCR tests.

The council's deputy director of public health, Dr Oliver Mytton, said it was a "precautionary measure" to try to identify any further cases and it was only testing one year group at the moment.

"We are obviously monitoring the situation very closely and we may need to review that decision in due course," he said.

He said that in April, 14 cases of variants of concern had been detected in Milton Keynes of which nine were the variant first detected in India.

"What's concerned us recently is that we've started to see a small number of cases that have not been directly related to travel which is an early indication that it could potentially get into the wider community," he said.

"Which is why we're trying to take this very proactive response to case finding and undertaking contact tracing to try to contain that spread.

"We're in a very different position to Bedford where cases have escalated rapidly and where they've seen a much more significant number of this variants... we're doing all we can to avoid getting in that position. "

For Bedford, Ms Head said the overall rate of infection was "continuing to rise really rapidly" due to "a very highly transmissible variant".

"We need to do everything we can to reduce transmission," she said.

"At the moment there's no reason to think the vaccine won't provide a good level of protection against this variant.

"I would urge you to get a vaccine as soon as possible and keep doing what we are used to: hands, face, space, meeting outdoors and using the range of testing available."

Bedford Borough Council has written to the government asking for the vaccination programme to be rolled out for all residents aged 16 and over.

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