Newquay has highest Covid infection rate in England amid fears of further spike after Boardmasters

Newquay now has the highest Covid infection rate in the country - and there are fears a further spike could come as a result of Boardmasters festival.

The town has been experiencing a spike since the beginning of August and now two of the three areas with the highest rate in England are within Newquay.

The latest figures - released on Wednesday 18 August - show Newquay East has the highest infection rate in England and Newquay West has the third-highest.

Now some have raised concerns there will be a further surge after 50,000 people attended Boardmasters Festival in Newquay last weekend.

But the festival's organisers say it is "too early" for the data to show if the event had an impact on coronavirus infections but said there are likely to be "anecdotal" reports of people who went to the festival testing positive.

George Moss is one of those people. The 18-year-old said he had an "amazing" five days there but he started to feel unwell on the final day of the festival.

"I didn't massively think much of it because I had already done a negative lateral flow the day before and I thought 'maybe this is just a cold I've picked up during the time'.

"I was driving home and as I was sat in the car I was feeling a little bit rough - a high fever, a bit cold sometimes."

When he did a lateral flow test at home it came back positive for Covid-19.

"I had a cough really start to develop and chills, all the Covid symptoms... but it passed within a day and I've started to get a lot better now," he said.

Malcom Bell, from Visit Cornwall, said the county is now seeing the effects of what happens if people "pretend the virus is gone and go back to partying as normal".

He told ITV News West Country: ''We could have predicted it and we were fearing it and it has come true."

He said restrictions in place this time last year meant people had to follow social distancing and other Covid measures by law, whereas now it is a matter of personal guidance.

"I think we're seeing the effect," he said.

"I can understand young people wanting to enjoy themselves, they've 18 months of a tough life, but I think we are now seeing the results of if you pretend the virus is gone and go back to partying as normal.''

What has Boardmasters said about Covid-19 infections?

In a statement, the festival's organisers said they worked closely with public health experts as well as NHS services to manage the risk of infections.

They described the site as "the best ventilated venue in the country", adding: "We asked fesstival-goers to play their part in reducing the impact of potential infection by showing proof of full vaccination, a negative lateral flow test or immunity from having had the virus before so they could join us on site.

"Like any town, we cannot eliminate risk entirely and, while it is still too early to see from the data if there has been any impact on Covid-19 cases, there are likely to be anecdotal reports of some people who were at the festival among those who test positive in the days following.  

"Cornwall Council’s public health team will be closely monitoring the data in the coming weeks, as will we," they added.