11 out of 30 care homes in the borough currently reporting active outbreaks

September 26, 2020

At least eight schools in Ealing have been affected by coronavirus cases as pupils returned to the classroom this month, it has been revealed.

Three schools have reported an ‘outbreak’ which means two or more cases at the site were directly linked, while a further five have confirmed a ‘cluster’ where two or more children or staff tested positive but are not believed to be linked.

Ealing’s public health director, Anna Bryden, told members of the council’s Health and Wellbeing Board the latest data on Thursday, 24 September.

It was also revealed 11 out of 30 care homes in the borough are reporting active outbreaks where two or more residents or staff have suspected or confirmed diagnoses of coronavirus.

Ms Bryden added that two care homes are partially or wholly closed as a result.

She added: “In terms of schools, obviously with schools having gone back two or three weeks ago we have had a number of schools that have had concerns, either with queries or with children or staff with confirmed cases, so they’ve been liaising with Public Health England and with ourselves in the council in trying to get them the best advice as quickly as possible.”

And explaining the wider Ealing context, Ms Bryden said: “In terms of number of infections…at the moment we’re talking about roughly around 100 people a week being diagnosed with Covid locally…

“That really is increasing over the last two, three, four weeks and we are expecting that to carry on going upwards…

“Both recently in the last two weeks we are seeing the rate is similar to north west London, London and England as a whole. I think we mentioned before about the testing issues. There have been issues with that nationally and we are seeing that impact us locally recently as well.

“Everybody I think in London is starting to think the testing capacity is affecting some of these numbers so we do think this is a bit of an underestimate if anything so we are expecting the numbers to increase.”

The update comes as it was announced on Friday, 25 September, that London is being added to the government’s national coronavirus watch list.

According to the latest available data, the number of Ealing coronavirus cases rose by 36 in one day from September 23 to 24.

The cumulative rate since March now stands at 621.4 per 100,000 people.

The public health boss also revealed Ealing Council has requested to start its own local contact tracing, with an ambition to reach more than 80 per cent of residents in Ealing with coronavirus cases.

The council wants to set up the scheme due to some people falling through the gaps of the national track and trace system.

Elsewhere, the meeting shared that an ‘integrated impact assessment’ will be done to look at the inter-related impacts of Covid-19 such as health, education and social and economic on Ealing’s population.

Ms Bryden added: “While we recognise Covid is having an impact on everybody it really is those who are already facing multiple disadvantages who are suffering the most.”

Anahita Hossein-Pour - Local Democracy Reporter