New data revealed, local lockdowns and pubs reopening – everything we learned about coronavirus in Sunderland this week

Changes to lockdown restrictions will take place from Saturday, July 4.

It’s been an eventful week building up to the latest and most significant easing of coronavirus lockdown measures on July 4.

Leicester became the first UK city to be placed under a local lockdown and there was a significant overhaul in the way testing figures are published at a local level.

Here’s what we learned:

Testing figure overhaul

A total of 1,761 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Sunderland – a rise of 373 on the previous count due to a change in the way testing figures are recorded.

Thursday marked the first time that Public Health England released numbers of lab-confirmed positive cases through testing in all settings.

These daily figures will now combine pillar one testing data (those from a laboratory setting) and pillar two tests (those carried out in the wider community).

Previously, only pillar one test figures were available at a local level with Sunderland having 1,388 positive cases under that measure as of Tuesday, June 30.

Based on the pillar one testing measure, Sunderland has the second-highest number of cases per 100,000 people in England. But under the more accurate combined measure, the city stands at 17th overall with a rate of 634.8, and the weekly rate is one of the lowest in the country.

Sunderland not expecting local lockdown

A local lockdown is not expected in Sunderland ‘as long as people continue to behave sensibly’, according to the city’s Director of Public Health.

Earlier this week a number of media outlets, none of which are based in Sunderland, claimed that the city was among 36 areas ‘at risk’ of being put into lockdown.

This is due to the number of weekly coronavirus cases (under the pillar one measure) increasing from zero new cases between June 13 and June 19 to one new case between June 20 and June 26.

Case figures can be prone to fluctuating when they are as low as they have been in Sunderland in recent weeks and the city’s Director of Public Health, Gillian Gibson has slammed the ‘at risk’ tag.

“We would like to reassure residents that based on current national and local data, these reports couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.

For the week ending Sunday, June 28, Public Health England data showed that there were 1.8 cases per 100,000 people in Sunderland.

Out of 145 local authorities, Sunderland is at the lower end of the scale for case rates, sitting at 113th in the country.

In comparison, Leicester’s latest number of cases under the same measure stands at 141.3.

The majority of Sunderland’s pubs, bars and restaurants will not be reopening on July 4

The Government has given the green light for pubs and restaurants to reopen in England from Saturday, July 4, however just one in five have said they will open.

However the council has said that of the 423 licensed premises which could potentially reopen this weekend, just 82 have indicated that they will.

Several pubs in Sunderland have already announced that they intend to remain closed to customers mostly due to health and safety concerns.

Click here for an extensive list of bars in and around Sunderland city centre, and what their plans reopening plans are.

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