Reading is seeing the first signs of a decrease in infection rates, according to the council’s public health expert.

David Munday, Public Health Consultant for Reading Borough Council (RBC) gave an update this week on the Covid situation in the town on Youtube.

The latest data shows there have been 130 cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days.

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Mr Munday, who began the video by thanking residents for following the lockdown rules, said the data “shows the first signs that we are seeing a decline in infection rates”.

Looking back at the last few months, he said infection rates rose from 30 cases per 100,000 a week in early October to around 140 by the end of the month, an almost five-fold increase.

But he said the rate of infection “plateaued” in the first three weeks of November at between 140 and 160 cases per 100,000 over 7 days and has now fallen to between 120 and 140.

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Mr Munday said: “We are just below the regional average around the South East but also below the national average.

“I think this shows the actions we have taken have started to have an impact, but it is too early to say that we are inevitably going to see continuous decline.

“We have to continue to live our lives in Covid-secure ways.”

He said the key message in tier 2 is: “We must not mix with other households in an indoor setting, whether that is in our own homes, in a café, restaurant or pub or any other indoor environment.

“The reason for that is we know that, in poorly ventilated or indoor areas, the virus transmits far more easily than in an outdoor setting.

“It is really important if we want to see a sustained decline in numbers and we want to move to tier 1 that people stick with that.”

Mr Munday also spoke about vaccination plans in Reading and lateral flow rapid testing, saying more information would follow in future updates, with plans to also expand on advice on how to follow stay Covid-secure at Christmas.

His final message was: “We are continuing to see that downward trend and lets continue doing the right thing for Reading.”