The government has announced that Brighton & Hove will be in Tier 2 (high alert) for Covid-19 restrictions when the second national lockdown ends at midnight on Wednesday 2 December.
In the seven days up to 20 November (based on data published on 25 November) there were 264 confirmed new Covid-19 cases in Brighton & Hove. That is a 50% decrease from the previous seven-day period. It is now equivalent to a weekly rate of new cases of 90.8 per 100,000 residents.
This is lower than the rate for England, which was 218.4 per 100,000. It's also lower than the rate in the South East of England which was 162.3 per 100,000 during the same period.
The full data is published on the council website.
Alistair Hill, Director of Public Health, said:
“Cases in Brighton & Hove have decreased in the past week. I think this shows that people in the city are taking lockdown seriously and it is having the right effect.
"The point of lockdown is to restrict the opportunities for people to gather and potentially spread Covid. Our stats this week suggest that lockdown is working for us.
“So I want to thank everyone who has helped to reduce the rate of transmission in the city during lockdown. But I am continuing to ask that we all keep this up when we go into Tier 2 next week.
“We’ve seen the numbers of cases rise and fall dramatically over the past month. We know we still have a worrying number of cases within our most vulnerable communities.
"When lockdown ends next week, it’s really important that we don’t relax our efforts.”
Phélim Mac Cafferty, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, said:
“To every person that has stayed at home, made space for others, worn a mask, washed their hands, followed the guidelines – thank you for the sacrifices you continue to make. The individual actions we are taking, together, are saving lives and protecting the NHS. But I would appeal to everyone that we have a long way to go until we have beaten this pandemic.
“While some businesses in the city will be looking forward to reopening I am acutely aware of the continuing effect on the hospitality sector during what is normally one of their busiest times of the year. I urge them to seek advice and lobby for further financial support as well as check for eligibility to the council’s business grants scheme.
“We should respect the sacrifice many have already made and keep working to bring down and keep down transmission rates of Covid in the city.
“The worst scenario before we have a vaccine would be to have a big increase in cases at the very time of the year when our hospitals would usually be busy. Let’s not take that risk.
“Please think about others and continue to stand up for most vulnerable.”
The Tier 2 (high alert) rules are: