Big jump in coronavirus cases in South-west London

By Sian Bayley, Local Democracy Reporter

Boroughs in South-west London have seen a big jump in the weekly rate of coronavirus cases.

Data from Public Health England showed that in the week September 21 to September 27 Wandsworth saw 29.1 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 15.9 the previous week.

Richmond was not far behind, seeing a jump to 28.4 cases per 100,000 this week compared to 11.2 last.

Kingston also saw a big increase to 26.2 per 100,000 from 13.7 last week.

But last week’s figures were thought to be lower than the true number due to issues with testing.

It has been one week since all London boroughs were placed on the government’s national watch list, but no further restrictions have yet been implemented.

Richmond’s council leader Gareth Roberts said the borough needed to treat this as “a wake-up call” as Richmond’s case rate, which has previously been very low, moved in line with the London average.

Cllr Roberts said 2,089 people have been tested in the borough over the past seven days and there was a positive return rate of 2.5 per cent.

This is more than double that seen over the previous seven days.

He warned residents: “If we do not follow the rules we could find ourselves under further restrictions and possibly a full lockdown like we saw earlier in the year.”