A POPULAR holiday town has topped the Covid hotspots list – after beachgoers flocked to the coast for summer breaks.
Favourite seaside resorts have been hit with rising cases in recent weeks, as Brits seek out sunshine without risking travelling abroad.
Parts of Newquay are now in the ten spots with the highest infection rates in the country.
The most up to date Government figures – up to August 14 – show Newquay East has a Covid case rate of 1174 per 100,00 people.
Newquay West isn’t quite as infected but still hit hard at number nine, with 864.5 cases per 100,000 residents.
The west side of the popular Cornish town hosted the Boardmasters music festival after the figures were counted – where dozens of people caught Covid.
More than 1,000 people per 100,000 had caught the bug in rural parts of Cornwall last week.
This is higher than levels in large cities which have usually been the spots where large case numbers have broken out.
Health chiefs in the area warned that holidaymakers heading to the West are causing infections to rocket.
They have blamed younger travellers, who are likely to have just had one vaccine, or none at all.
Ruth Goldstein, Cornwall Council’s deputy director of public health, told the BBC last week it was due to “holiday hot-spots that attract a lot of young people”.
She said: “It’s what we expect because we know that the younger people have only had one, and in some case no, vaccine; so, unfortunately, it’s easier to transmit.”
Cornwall council said bars, pubs and clubs being open were keeping infection rates high.
The other hotspots in England were found in Somerset, Hull and the Isle of Wight.
At the beginning of August the South West had the largest R rate, as cases rose.
Locals were left fuming by tourists in popular towns such as St Ives and Penzance, with few people wearing face masks or staying 1m away from each other.
According to the BBC, Visit Cornwall has estimated that there are up to 210,000 Brits holidaying in the area – up from the usual 180,000.
Visit Cornwall boss Malcom Bell said: “Visitors are not getting a good experience, locals are frustrated and systems can’t cope”.
Source: The Sun
