Last week (28/04), Cambridge was the English city with the third-highest increase in COVID cases over the preceding four weeks. The highest infection rate was amongst 10 to 14 year olds, followed by adolescents.

Cambridgeshire’s Director of Public Health, Dr Liz Robin cited the return of students to the city over the Easter vacation as a key cause for the increase in cases, and added that “some people were not sticking to the rules for this stage of the roadmap”.

The Cambridgeshire infection rate was up from a low of 10.4 per 100,000 on the 7th of April to a high of 64.9 on the 23rd of April. The national average is at 24.2 cases.

Of all Cambridgeshire boroughs, Cambridge was found to have the highest infection rate in the week leading up to April 25th, with an average of 54.5 cases per 100,000 people.

A press release by local authorities called the past week’s 81 new cases “concerning”. Cambridge City Council’s Chief Executive Robert Pollock urged everyone to “stick to the rules” to not “put at risk the next phase of unlocking”.

He reminded residents they are entitled to two free rapid COVID tests a week: “the best way to get our freedom back is to keep the virus under control”, he stated.

The University’s asymptomatic testing program only detected one COVID case in the last week. Three returning students were equally found to be positive.

On the 22nd of April, 61% of the adult Cambridgeshire population had received a first jab of the COVID vaccine. This is slightly below the average rate of vaccination across England, with 70.6% of adults having received at least one vaccine dose.

Meanwhile, posters with the message “I test to protect you. You test to protect me” have also been put up in Colleges to remind students to participate in the weekly testing scheme.