Covid figures released for Greater Manchester - 3 March
Mayor Andy Burnham has held his weekly press conference detailing the latest COVID 19 statistics for Greater Manchester. He was joined by Lou Cordwell, co-chair of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership.
Case Rate
The trend is downwards, with none of the 10 boroughs climbing up - as has happened in previous weeks. Greater Manchester has dropped from 179 positive cases per 100,000 to 145.7. "It is clear that the lockdown is working but the numbers are still quite high and we have to therefore remain cautious," said Mr Burnham. He pointed to the failure to provide self-isolation support as a potential problem in maintaining this downward trend.
Care Homes
Care homes are described as 'stable' and much lower levels of infection than last year. "We continue to keep a close watch," said Mr Burnham.
Hospitals
"The position in the hospital system has improved," said Mr Burnham. Admissions are down and in-hospital diagnoses are also down. This is beginning to filter through to the number of people in intensive and critical care beds.
"It is certainly still a picture of intense pressure on the NHS and we continue to be grateful to all our colleagues in the Greater Manchester NHS for managing us through this," said Mr Burnham.
Vaccines
The top-line figure is that 849,670 people have received the first dose of the vaccine as of 3 March.
"We continue to press the Government to get the supplies flowing," said Mr Burnham. The mayor's office has also repeated its request to allow the Etihad Mass Vaccination centre to be opened up to the next age groups.
"This week marks the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 cases being detected in Greater Manchester and we know that will bring back painful memories," said Mr Burnham.
There is a website where people can remember loved ones, and there will be a service on 23 March at Manchester Cathedral.
"We know that the longer we get into this pandemic the harder it gets, very much so for people who have lost loved ones. The Greater Manchester bereavement serves is available to all residents," the Mayor added.
