Published by the Pirate FM News Team at 5:27pm 8th June 2020. (Updated at 6:01am 9th June 2020)

By Richard Whitehouse, Local Democracy Reporter

Health officials in Cornwall say that as figures show the rate of infection of Covid-19 could be on the rise it is important that people continue to follow guidelines.

It has been estimated that the R rate in the South West is close to 1 – this means that for every person who is infected with the virus they will pass it to one other person.

The Government has said that one of its five tests for easing lockdown is that the R rate is below 1 across the country.

While other parts of the country have rates which are below 1 there has been concern that in the South West it remains at 1, second highest in the country.

“We continue to monitor the situation extremely closely here in Cornwall. We strongly advise that anyone with symptoms of coronavirus, a high temperature, a new and continuous cough, a loss of sense of taste and smell, to request a test as soon as possible. If you are confirmed as having Covid-19, everyone who you have been in close contact with, within two metres of, will be contacted and asked to self-isolate immediately as part of the Government’s test and trace service.”

Rachel Wigglesworth, Cornwall Council’s Interim director of public health

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked to speak to Cornwall’s director of public health to seek clarification on what the situation is for Cornwall and whether the R rate for the South West was giving a true indicator for what is happening more locally.

However we were told by Cornwall Council’s press office that no interviews were available.

They instead issued the following statement, saying that Helen Charlesworth-May, NHS Kernow and Cornwall Council’s joint chief officer for health, care and wellbeing, and Iain Chorlton, chairman of NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “The publication of the latest R number today (Friday 5 June) shows an increase across England, not just in the South West – this is to be expected as we gradually ease out of lockdown.

“However, this shows us that it is more important than ever that we all follow the social distancing guidelines, remaining two metres apart from people outside our households at all times, only gather in groups of six at a time and continue to wash our hands regularly.

“We currently have good capacity across health and care to manage the number of coronavirus cases but no one wants to see these escalate – we have come too far already, seen the heartache losing a family member, loved one or friend causes, to go backwards now.”

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