Preston’s daily Covid cases are -14 and why this is as transport secretary says overseas summer holidays might still happen

Disinfecting Fishergate bus stop Pic: Preston City Council — Disinfecting a Fishergate bus stop in preparation for Monday 12 April Pic: Preston Business Improvement District

Preston’s new cases for Friday are showing a negative number due to the way the government is now recording new Covid cases.

Previously positive rapid lateral flow test cases which were then shown to be negative were not removed from the figures.

But now the government, where a rapid flow test was actually negative within three days, are being wiped from the coronavirus figures.

A Public Health England spokesperson said: “The way cases are reported has changed. Cases that have been identified through a positive rapid lateral flow test will be removed for people who took Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests within 3 days that were all negative. Cases of this type that were previously reported were removed from the cumulative total, reducing the total by 8,010. Newly reported numbers of cases for the UK and England were unaffected by the removal of these. Historical published date totals have not been changed.

“Newly reported cases at regional and local authority level within England are calculated as the daily change in the total number of cases. This means that for 9 April 2021, these show significantly lower numbers or zero, and should not be considered as the actual number of new cases reported on that date.”

The cases for Friday (9 April) show Preston down by 14 cases.

South Ribble recorded a daily figure of -11, Ribble Valley -6, Fylde -12 and Chorley -9.

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The city’s infection rate is now 54.5 cases per 100,000 people for the seven days to April 5, down from 98.5 cases per 100,000 people for the seven days to March 29.

Data for the most recent four days (April 6-9) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

South Ribble’s rate is now 39.7, down from 55.1 – for the same two date periods.

Wyre is at 14.3, down from 20.5 and Fylde is at 16.1, down from 32.2.

Ribble Valley’s rate is 39.4, down from 44.3 and Chorley’s rate also dropped to 49.1, down from 63.4.

Foreign holidays could soon be booked

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said people should ‘start to think’ about overseas summer holidays.

The Cabinet minister said it is the first time in “many months” he was not advising against booking foreign trips.

His comments came just five days after Downing Street published a document which urged people “not to book summer holidays abroad until the picture is clearer”.

On Friday Mr Shapps announced a “framework” for the resumption of overseas leisure travel, which included requiring all arrivals to take pre-departure and post-arrival coronavirus tests.

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Post-arrival tests must be the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) type which cost about £120, he said.

This led to a furious backlash from the travel industry, which wants travellers returning from low-risk countries to be allowed to take lateral flow tests, which are cheaper and quicker.

Asked if people could start to book foreign holidays now, Mr Shapps told Sky News: “I’m not telling people that they shouldn’t book summer holidays now, it’s the first time that I’ve been able to say that for many months.”

He said he was looking to “drive down the costs” of tests required for international travel to resume.

“Costs are definitely a concern, it’s one of the factors this year, and we have to accept we’re still going through a global pandemic,” he said.

“And so we do have to be cautious and I’m afraid that does involve having to have some tests and the like.

“But, I am undertaking today to drive down the costs of those tests and looking at some innovative things we could do.”