Oxford covid alert system to be reviewed

Oxford city centre has seen rise in cases among students

A council could scrap its coronavirus alert system in a bid to avoid "confusion" with the government's incoming three-tier one.

Oxfordshire County Council said it was "reviewing the usefulness" of its system after cases reached its "red alert" level of 50 per 100,000 people.

County cases have risen to 352 to 2 October from 152 the week before.

It said having a local system when the government was looking to introduce its own "risks causing confusion".

The council said it also needed to "take account" of cases rising "at much higher levels" locally and nationally in recent months, "when the local colour coded system was doing its job and local cases following suit".

Oxford Brookes University confirmed out of 152 cases in Oxford, 98 had been confirmed as students and two were members of staff.

Recent cases rises at the Headington-based university after the rise in its cases was linked to social gatherings at halls of residences.

Ansaf Azhar, the county's director of public health, said although "technically" Oxfordshire had moved into "red alert" level, the numbers were "just one element" the council was taking into account.

He said "understanding the epidemiology of the spread" was another area the local authority was looking at and added that cases were mainly in young people aged between 18 and 24.

Mr Azhar said the virus was "fairly contained in younger people" and the council hadn't seen evidence yet of it spreading to older people.

It comes as a county-wide "Covid Secure Team" has been created to "ensure that local businesses are continuing to properly abide by regulations, such as the 10pm curfew on pubs, bars and restaurants".

A spokesman said the team will have a "core membership" of six people but numbers "will very often be much higher" depending on demand and workload.

He added the team would "help limit the spread of the virus" but the "main weapon" was for people to follow the government's guidance on handwashing, social distancing and face masks.

Oxford ranks 78th out of all the local authorities in the country and latest data says no Covid-19 deaths were registered in Oxfordshire in the week up to 3 October.