Cambridgeshire errs on side of caution despite drop in Covid cases

Some residents and councils in Cambridgeshire remain cautious over the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, despite the county seeing a drop in new cases. 

There were 3,809 new infections reported in the county for the week of February 13-19, 28.3pc less than the previous week. 

Fenland saw a 32.5pc decline in cases for the seven days before February 13, while East Cambridgeshire reported 721 new infections for February 6-12, a drop on the previous week. 

However, some council services are not easing measures despite prime minister Boris Johnson announcing last week that all Covid restrictions in England were to end. 

This includes Peterborough City Council, who are keeping attendances at marriages and civil partnership ceremonies at its registration office to eight people. 

“We are all still being urged to continue with many of the precautions to keep ourselves and those we care about safe and to reduce transmission of the virus,” the council said. 

“This is particularly important with rates of the virus higher than we would like in parts of Peterborough. 

Face coverings are also still mandatory and a review of the decision will take place at the end of March. 

Jyoti Atri, Cambridgeshire’s director of public health, previously warned that the county needs to “be prepared if this situation changes due to immunity waning or a new and dangerous variant.” 

In December, the county was given a three-week extension to its coronavirus enhanced response area status to combat the rise in Covid cases.