THE trust which runs hospitals in Hampshire is asking everyone to test for Covid before visiting.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), which runs Basingstoke, Andover, and Winchester hospitals, is asking visitors to take a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) which can be done at home, before attending any of its three sites.

It said: “It’s important we do our bit to protect everyone around us from Covid-19.”

 

As of Friday evening, the number of coronavirus cases in Southampton increased by 181 in the last 24 hours, official figures show.

A total of 22,430 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Southampton when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on August 13 (Friday), up from 22,249 on Thursday.

The rate of infection in Southampton now stands at 8,870 cases per 100,000 people, lower than the England average of 9,597.

Across the UK, the number of recorded cases increased by 32,362 over the period, to 6,211,868.

However, there were no new coronavirus deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour period in Southampton.

The dashboard shows 329 people had died in the area by August 13 (Friday) – which was unchanged from Thursday.

It means there has been one death in the past week, which is an increase on none the previous week.

They were among 17,532 deaths recorded across the South East.

The figures include anyone who died within 28 days of a positive test result for Covid-19, and whose usual residence was in Southampton.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death, so some areas might see their figures revised down.

The figures also show that more than half of people in Southampton have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The latest figures show 129,102 people had received both jabs by August 12 (Thursday) – 57% of those aged 18 and over, based on the number of people on the National Immunisation Management Service database.

Across England, 76% of people aged 18 and above had received a second dose of the jab.

Unlike at local level, the national rate was calculated using mid-2020 population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.