The number of new cases of Covid-19 is rising in Kingston again after weeks of decline in the borough and across South London.

On Tuesday (March 16) the Surrey Comet caught up with Director of Public Health on Kingston Council, Iona Lidington, to see what was behind the latest data on cases and how authorities in the borough are responding.

Why are the numbers of new cases in Kingston rising?

There are a couple of reasons why we've seen the rate, which is quite variable at the moment, bump up a little bit. Generally we're quite pleased at how rates have gone down but clearly we want them to keep going down. It's a concern to see infections go up in any of the age groups. We've particularly seen it in our teenagers and over 70s. Our teenagers we can perhaps understand because we've been doing much more testing. All secondary school pupils have been tested three times in school before testing at home twice a week. So we've done over 35,000 tests with our secondary school pupils in the last 10 days. We've found at least a small number of positives there and it's really important we find those because obviously they go home and self isolate and their families and close contacts do too. That obviously stops the onward transition. Those asymptomatic tests are really important and it's really important we keep doing them, so it's not surprising that it's gone up a little bit in that age group.

The other group are our over 70s and it's harder to say why. Some of them we're finding out after they are admitted to hospital for something else. When they have a Covid test as part of their admission, sometimes they are having a test and it's coming up as positive, so they're (often) asymptomatic. We're seeing a slight rise in those people and it's important we find those as they are nursed or treated in a different way if they are positive. But we may also have, and this is what we don't know, over 70s who have been vaccinated that are perhaps not sticking to the prevention messages, the 'Hands, Face and Space'. So it's really important that even once people have been vaccinated, even after both doses, that they still follow the Hands Face and Space messages and staying at home as part of the national lockdown. It's been harder with the nicer weather and we've had Mothers' Day recently. We haven't seen the impact of that yet but generally, whether we're seeing the impact of some people not following the Stay At Home and Hands, Face and Space guidance in those older cohorts who have already had the vaccine — that's only a supposition: we don't have any evidence to show that but it's a hypothesis.

But is the higher number of tests among younger people happening in other boroughs too?

I haven't seen their data but we have had very good uptake here. 90 per cent of our schools have voluntarily taken up the offer of testing and of course the more tests you do the more likely you are to pick up especially asymptomatic cases. I can't say whether the uptick we are seeing is related to our amount of testing or whether other boroughs have done as much and not had as many positives.

In terms of general guidance and measures that Kingston Council are taking regarding coronavirus, is there anything you could point to that is different for Kingston than say your neighbours in Richmond or Merton?

When we look at the data, which we do on a daily basis, we can see that some of the other age cohorts, when you're looking at younger adults, may mean that the people who can't work from home, who are having to go out to work, and possibly getting asymptomatic tests from their workplace and not taking up our offer of testing, it may be that they are getting the virus asymptomatically and unwittingly spreading it. It could be that we have more of that workforce out and about in Kingston than in other boroughs. What we do do is look at any positives and see if we can look into any history of where they are working, see if there was a history of any outbreak there, and in that case we can liaise with them. I think we're doing as much outreach and encouragement with our communications as we can to try and get people out and about for work to try and get this regular testing. Particularly for younger people who are less likely to get it without symptoms, the more they get asymptomatic testing the better. We've got it at pharmacies, at Kingston University and three other hub sites in the borough. We're really trying to encourage people like that to do the right thing and get tested twice a week.

What is the situation regarding care homes, where Kingston had some successes compared to other boroughs during the first wave?

The testing for care homes has really changed. All care homes now have lab-based tests as well as the rapid result testing and that' really been a game changer. And that's the same for our care homes, our learning disability homes, our mental health homes. It means that if someone does develop the virus we're finding out about it really quickly and preventing that onward spread. Clearly in terms of discharge from hospitals we have a discharge protocol in terms of where people go back to to prevent onward spread, and similarly with the rotating of staff in care homes. People like physios or OTs having regular testing to make sure the virus is spreading between different locations.

The Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said recently he expects there to be another wave of Covid infections after restrictions are eased later in the year. Is that something you're anticipating?

We do listen to the national scientists as part of our planning. I guess again it is remembering that it's also down to everybody's individual actions. It's not a given. It will depend on whether people do follow advice regarding mixing, taking up the vaccine when they get the offer, and if more people self isolate well, especially after testing positive, there is more chance there won't be that spread. So it's not a given. That's where I think it's crucial to let the public know that as lockdown eases it's their actions that are likely to make a big difference as to whether we'll have another big wave of infection or not. The more people that take up their offer of the vaccine, and take up the second dose, the less likely that will be the case. People's actions of prevention from Hands, Face and Space to not mixing, is important. It's remembering to stick with the guidance and not overstep the mark. The virus thrives on social contact. So the more contact, the more mixing, the more risk there is that the spread will get out of control again we will find ourselves with higher rates and our NHS at risk of getting overwhelmed. It will depend on what people do.

How are NHS hospitals in Kingston doing compared to the peak of the previous wave in January?

I'm pleased to say that with lockdown we've seen the impact of lower rates in the community. It's about a two-week delay so you'll see cases come down, and then fewer admissions two weeks after that, and then a week later fewer people having to be ventilated. As we've seen case rates go down with the lockdown across South West London and London, that pressure on the NHS has started to relieve, and the number of patients, patients in ITU and patients on ventilation have all started to decrease. But that's why we're worried if case rates do start to increase in Kingston because in a couple of weeks you'll see that knock-on effect in hospital.

If the trend of an uptick in the numbers of new cases that we're now seeing does continue, what would the council look at doing to try and change that?

It's ticked up a little bit, it's nothing like where it was. We need to get the message out quickly, it's not to alarm people but just to remind them to do the write thing: To not cut corners, not see larger groups, not have people in their homes. There's a reason why the restrictions are coming off at the rate they are, and it's so we don't get this uptick every time restrictions are eased. So we are asking the public and Kingston residents to do the right thing and make sure all the effort they've put in, all the sacrifices they've made between January and now, are not lost by being silly and acting irresponsibly as soon as they feel they can.

So there will be more information being put out there first?

Yes so we're reminding people of the reasons why they should be following the Hands, Face and Space guidance, encouraging testing. None of that has gone away and people can get bored of messages quickly so we're trying to do it in an engaging way to hold people to the course.

Is there anything beyond a stronger messaging campaign?

We're looking at making it easier for people to get tested. So taking testing out to people. We're going to have a testing bus so if we have any hotspots we can get that out to areas if we have an outbreak. A lot of studies show that people will do the right thing, especially if it's not too difficult for them. So having mobile testing units out, testing for people not working from home at convenient hours of the day.