With a new national lockdown in place, how is Sutton Coldfield faring in the battle against Covid-19? Here’s the latest list of infection rates for this part of Birmingham
Families in Birmingham and the Black Country are among those hit by the new nationwide lockdown imposed by Boris Johnson on January 4, 2021.
The announcement followed a rapid rise in infections, hospital admissions and case rates across the country.
This big jump in cases has been caused by the new variant of Covid-19, which scientists have confirmed is between 50 and 70 per cent more transmissible – meaning it’s easier to catch and therefore spreads far more quickly.
The dramatic change has meant an equally shocking new look to the official maps of coronavirus cases.
For the first time, we have seen a dark purple colour code appearing on the key for the map, showing where cases are now over 800 per 100,000.
It’s a very visible way of seeing the effect of an invisible threat that may sometimes seem almost impossible to comprehend.
Above you can see how Birmingham and the Black Country look as of January 5. It’s a grim mass of purple with only a bit of blue peeking through.
So how are areas such as Sutton Coldfield faring in the battle against coronavirus?
What the latest map of Sutton Coldfield below shows is that there are large swathes of purple (an infection rate of 400 to 799 cases per 100,000), a few worrying zones of the new shade of dark purple (800 or more cases per 100,000) and some areas of dark blue (200 to 399 cases per 100,000). Cases are rising everywhere in Sutton Coldfield except Walmley.
The map, updated on January 10, shows the infection rates as they were on January 5.
Back In October, Sutton Coldfield mostly had an infection rate of between 100-200 cases per 100,000 (which is a light blue) though some parts were lower with 50-100 cases per 100,000 (shown in green).
At that time, no part of Sutton Coldfield had an infection rate of more than 200-400 (dark blue) or 400-plus cases per 100,000 (shown in purple).
By mid-December, most of Sutton Coldfield had an infection rate of 100-199 cases per 100,000 and nowhere had the highest infection rate of 400-plus any more.
There was one part with just 10-49 cases as well as another notable area (Minworth) shown starkly in white where the virus was described as ‘suppressed’ – meaning fewer than three cases.
But everything changed with the emergence of the fast-spreading new variant.
Here are the latest infection rates per 100,000 for the various parts of Sutton Coldfield in the latest data from January 10, which goes up to January 5. We’ve also included the total number of cases in each area and shown the percentage rise or fall in cases.
Chester Road (includes Boldmere) – 918.8, 90 cases, up 164.7%
Streetly North – 845.5, 52 cases, up 100%
New Oscott – 802.6, 76 cases, up 65.2%
Streetly South – 774.1, 51 cases, up 70%
Minworth – 669, 36 cases, up 33.3%
Reddicap Heath – 629.5, 64 cases, up 109.9%
Wylde Green – 590.7, 33 cases, up 175%
Little Sutton & Roughley – 588.8, 62 cases, up 67.7%
Four Oaks – 528.1, 37 cases, up 68.2%
Hill Hook – 494.3, 31 cases, up 47.6%
Sutton Coldfield South & Central – 490.3, 40 cases, up 25%
Rectory Park & New Hall Valley – 441.8, 25 cases, up 25%
Sutton Coldfield North & Park – 394.5, 16 cases, up 76.2%
Walmley – 382.7, 28 cases, down 26.3%
