As Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the UK and only weeks after universities have returned, the total number of cases in Hampshire has exceeded 10,000 people. These numbers emerge as total UK statistics exceed 760,000 cases.
Hampshire is currently under Tier 1 (medium) of government restrictions, despite the number of active cases rising. Southampton has seen the largest number of cases in a single day since the start of the pandemic so far, with 54 positive cases recorded on 20th of October. The previous record was of 25 cases per day in April.
Imperial College London has also released data which suggests that Southampton could be a virus hotspot by the end of October, with a 95% likelihood compared to the 59% prediction made a week ago. It is unclear whether local restrictions will be tightened if this does happen and to what extent they could change.
Hampshire universities have also seen cases on their campuses, as students have returned for the new academic year. As of the 21st of October, the University of Southampton has confirmed 31 active cases. Solent University Southampton has confirmed 13. The University of Winchester has confirmed 6 and the University of Portsmouth has confirmed 113. These numbers are updated daily and can be tracked on their university websites.
Since schools reopened in September, Hampshire Live reported that over 100 Hampshire schools have confirmed positive cases in this period, with 11 new schools being added to the list between October 18th and 20th.
There are concerns that the oncoming winter season will make it even harder to contain the virus.
As more regions and cities are put into Tier 3 lockdowns this week, it has been suggested that the country could be put into a circuit-breaker lockdown, as a temporary measure to try and bring the numbers back under control.
