A spike in coronavirus infections in St Albans at the beginning of the month was due to an outbreak at a care home, the county council has said.

Public Health England data last week ranked St Albans district as the 14th highest for new coronavirus infection rates between June 30 and July 7.

The data showed St Albans had a rate of 19 new cases per 100,000 people that week - although over the whole of the pandemic, St Albans’ rate of 346.7 is nowhere near the top of the list.

In the seven days up to July 7, roughly 28 new cases were identified in the district, which has a population of just under 150,000. The rate is calculated from figures released on the Government’s coronavirus online dashboard.

The rate for the seven days up to June 28 was 6.2 so the following week’s data shows a spike in cases.

Speaking at a meeting of the county council’s cabinet on Monday (July 13), executive member for public health and prevention Cllr Tim Hutchings acknowledged the number of cases had been elevated in St Albans due to a “problem” at a care home.

He said there was no evidence to suggest a risk of wider outbreak in St Albans or elsewhere in the county.

He added he does not recognise the “newspaper figures” – although the figures published by the Review last week are based on Government data. The councillor did not clarify which figures he recognised.

He said: “Across the county the numbers we are looking at are fairly low and spread out – suggesting we don’t have any particular areas of focus.

“Except that we had one problem last week in a care home in St Albans, but that was dealt with very quickly, it was isolated and we are on top of it.”

He continued: “The newspaper figures for St Albans are not ones that we recognise. In fact they were suggesting that the problems in St Albans put it in the top 10 of the worst in the country – the reality is we are not even in the top 100.

“The figures in St Albans were a little elevated for a few days last week, with the majority of infections contained in one care home.

“We have been monitoring the situation on a daily basis and put in actions which have resulted in figures coming down again.

“There is no evidence to suggest a risk of wider outbreak in St Albans or for that matter anywhere else in the county. However we recognise the need to remain vigilant.”

Cllr Hutchings made the comments as cabinet members considered the county council’s ongoing response to Covid-19.

The council would not say which care home was affected nor how many residents were infected.

The latest Public Health England data shows the rate of new cases in St Albans had reduced from 19 to 12.2 for the seven days up to July 10.

This puts the district 36th in the list of all of the authorities.

The rate in St Albans remains higher than anywhere else in Hertfordshire, with Welwyn Hatfield next on the list with a rate of 5.7 new cases per 100,000 people.

For the seven days up to July 10, PHE data shows Dacorum had a rate of 3.2, Hertsmere 2.9, and Watford 2.1 – Watford is down from 7.1.

Overall in St Albans, Government figures show, as of Monday afternoon, there have been 511 cases, with 4,154 in Hertfordshire.

The Office for National Statistics reports that up until the end of July 3, there have been 126 deaths of people living in St Albans where cause of death has been Covid-19.

This included three deaths in the three weeks leading up to the end of July 3.

West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has reported 369 Covid-19 deaths, the latest happening yesterday (Monday), while three deaths occurred on July 9.