A HUGE amount of data has been collected since the pandemic first took hold.

Many people have logged on to the government’s website to check the daily case rates for their area and the number of those who, tragically, lost their life to the virus.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 10,600 people have tested positive for the virus in Swindon. Over 300 people have Covid-19 as a cause of death listed on their death certificate.

A pandemic in numbers 

This graph shows the rise and fall of positive covid cases in the borough. The huge rise in December and January is perhaps in part the result of the easier access to testing – including lateral flow tests, which detect the virus even in those not showing symptoms.

Source: GOV.UK

By comparing Swindon’s case rate to that of the south west and the wider UK, you can clearly see the “second spike” in late July and August. Public health officials battled to control outbreaks at various workplaces – the worst at Iceland’s XPO Logistics base – linked to colleagues car sharing.

The case rates for postcode areas only started being published in September – with most areas in Swindon logging figures from early October.

The graph below may look like a dropped bowl of rainbow spaghetti, but it clearly shows the spike in cases after Christmas. You can find your area in the table below. (A word of warning, though: these are case rates, i.e. the equivalent number of new cases per 100,000 people, so if an area’s relatively small, a tiny rise in the number of cases can have a proportionately larger impact on the case rate).

Source: GOV.UK

Tragedy

As of mid-February, 323 people had Covid-19 listed on their death certificate as a cause of death.

More than 250 people had died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

The graph below shows the cumulative number of deaths.

Source: GOV.UK

Hospital admissions

This graph clearly shows the three “waves” of the virus – with admissions to Great Western Hospital spiking in April, November and again in January.

The graph also reveals just how poorly patients were during the first lockdown. On April 19, there were 16 inpatients at GWH on mechanical ventilation. Despite higher numbers of admissions during the most recent lockdown, the number of patients on mechanical ventilation peaked at 15 in mid-January.

Curiously, Swindon’s “second wave” during the summer did not result in more patients being admitted to hospital.

Source: GOV.UK