View report page

72
under Parts II and III of the Fourth Schedule to the Public Health
(Infectious Diseases) Regulations 1953, in relation to any particular
case if in his judgment it is immediately and urgently necessary for
him to do so for the purpose of preventing the spread of infection.
MORBIDITY
The arrangement under which a statement of new claims to
Sickness Benefit is received weekly from the Ministry of National
Insurance has provided an interesting measure of morbidity. During
1952 and 1953, the weekly averages of new claims were as follows :
1952 1953
January 464 747
February 433 832
March 390 401
April 350 300
May 270 232
June 214 236
July 200 197
August 205 201
September 262 257
October 369 370
November 311 360
December 426 291
The closeness of the averages for the period June to October
will be noted.
The "Smog" which involved the Borough, in common with
London generally, between December 5th and 8th, 1952, did not
produce an increase in claims until the week ending 16th December,
when 682 claims were received, as compared with 401 on each of
the two weeks preceding. During the next two weeks, claims fell
to 374 and 271 respectively.
In 1953, new claims were exceptionally heavy in January and
February, the weekly number being 681, 573, 728, 1,005, 1,202,
880, 684 and 561 over the eight-week period. For the rest of the
year the pattern was very similar to that of 1952.
No deaths were reported from Influenza in Walthamstow in
November and December, 1952, but there was one in January and
five during the first 3 weeks in February, 1953, i.e., during the
period of increased sickness.