Shepherd's Bush Sees Explosive Growth in Omicron Infections
Rate more than doubles in a week in W12 area
Some boroughs have set up 24-hour vaccination centres
Shepherd’s Bush has seen an explosive surge in the number of Covid-19 infections in the most recent week for which data is available.
Over 1% of people living in the W12 postcode area tested positive for the virus with the extra transmissibility of the Omicron variant believed to be responsible. It is thought that the new strain makes up over 80% of infections currently.
The area designated as Shepherd’s Bush West saw infection quadruple in the week to 14 December with over 100 people infected. This gave the neighbourhood an infection rate of 1,567.8 just ahead of the Brook Green and Brackenbury areas. White City was the only part of W12 not to have an infection rate about 1,000 despite the number of cases doubling in a week.
The W12 area has one of the highest infection rates in London and it is believed that a large proportion of the cases are incurring in younger age groups. Relatively low levels of vaccination are also being blamed and the government launched a major campaign this Monday (20 December) to urge people to get jabbed with every national newspaper participating in the campaign.
A local GP commented, “These infection rates are beyond my worst fears and I find it hard to believe the government will be able to continue to resist calls for more restrictions with a full lockdown not off the table. The reason why the situation is so bad is that NHS workers are not immune and a significant proportion of staff are self-isolating at a time when the service is already under severe pressure.”
At the time of writing the Cabinet was meeting to determine what the government’s response would be to the latest infection rates.
A mass vaccination exercise was held at Stamford Bridge this weekend and 24 hour drop in centres have been opened by some boroughs.
Professor Kevin Fenton, London’s Director of Public Health, said, “We are seeing extraordinary numbers of Covid cases in London. This sheer volume means that even if Omicron is found to have reduced severity, it will still have a big impact on hospitalisations and deaths.”
Daily hospital admissions in London rose to 199 on 14 December. Currently there are 1,460 Covid patients being in treated in total, up from 994 on 28 November.
Charing Cross Hospital has issued two black alerts in the last fortnight, its highest alert level, which indicates it is experiencing significant capacity pressures and has triggered actions to urgently create more capacity.
The borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has the fifth highest infection rate in London at 1,446 per 100,000 population. This compares to 1,675 for Lambeth, the borough with the highest rate.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council leader, Stephen Cowan said, “A year ago, on Monday 13 December, I was called into a London-wide emergency meeting to be told that if the country didn’t lock down within eight days there would be more deaths in the second wave than in the first. All London council leaders, across all parties, joined me in urging an immediate lockdown.
“Seven days later, Matt Hancock, then Health Secretary, confirmed the virus was ‘out of control’. None of us need reminding what impact the subsequent lockdown had on Christmas.
“A year on, the situation is not exactly the same thanks to the NHS’s tireless efforts in rolling out the vaccines, but we can’t yet be sure what’s ahead.
“That’s why I whole-heartedly support the Prime Minister’s appeal that everyone gets vaccinated and boosted as soon as they can.”
| Covid-19 Infection Rates in week to 14 December | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Number of cases | Change in week (%) | Infection rate per 100,000 |
Shepherd's Bush West |
107 |
296.3 |
1,567.8 |
Brook Green |
123 |
75.7 |
1,555.4 |
Brackenbury |
83 |
53.7 |
1,471.4 |
Shepherd's Bush South |
92 |
73.6 |
1,457.1 |
| Old Oak & Wormwood (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 001) |
136 |
100.0 |
1,419.0 |
| Shepherd's Bush North (MSOA Hammersmith and Fulham 004) |
95 |
150.0 |
1,324.8 |
Wormholt Road |
89 |
147.2 |
1,310.6 |
Askew |
105 |
90.9 |
1,292.8 |
White City |
62 |
113.8 |
950.9 |
Map of the area designations around Shepherd's Bush
Sadiq Khan, declared a “major incident” in London at the weekend. This enables different public agencies to cooperate and coordinate more closely, but also indicated that emergency services and hospitals are struggling to maintain their normal level of response. It is understood that a significant number of emergency service personnel in London are currently in self-isolation due to a positive Covid-19 test.
He said, “The Omicron variant has quickly become dominant, with cases increasing rapidly and the number of patients in our hospitals with Covid-19 on the rise again.
“We are already feeling the impact across the capital and, while we are still learning about this variant, it’s right that London’s key agencies work closely together to minimise the impact on our city, including helping to protect the vital vaccination programme.”
On Wednesday the UK reported 79,000 new infections – its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began and infection numbers are doubling every two days. According to the BBC, if that continues, “by Christmas Day 640,000 Omicron infections would be being recorded and early in the new year the whole population will have been infected”.
The worst-case scenario, according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicines, is hospital admissions peaking at over 6,000 inflicting huge pressures on NHS staff. Last winter, admissions peaked at 3,700 a day.
On Sunday 19 December the daily number of new people tested positive for COVID-19 in London was reported as 21,594. The total number of COVID-19 cases identified in London is 1,522,231, this compares to 9,655,061 cases for England as a whole
In the most recent week of complete data (8 December - 14 December), 95,916 cases were identified in London, a rate of 1065 cases per 100,000 population. This compares with 46,239 cases and a rate of 514 for the previous week.
For the sam period, 373,985 cases were identified in England as a whole, a rate of 661 cases per 100,000 population. This compares with 287,907 cases and a rate of 509 for the previous week.
Up to and including 18 December 6,248,055 people in London had received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 5,662,207 had received two doses.
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December 20, 2021