Health chiefs urge people to take caution as lockdown eases

Lockdown measures will be no longer be in place next week from Monday, July 19, with face masks and social distancing becoming optional.

Case numbers have been rising across England and are currently at similar levels to that of January’s peak - however hospitalisations remain much lower.

As a region we have a lower case rate than the rest of England though we are seeing 2,000 to 3,000 new cases per day in the south west - with a 38 per cent increase in the last week.

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Hospital admissions are rising across the region but “very gently” with around 100 people in hospital at the moment, compared to 1,000 in April last year.

Debbie Stark NHS regional director of public health said: “People are mixing more and are going to continue to mix more so cases are going to rise.”

Royal Bournemouth Hospital.

“There is always the possibility of a variant of this virus that we haven’t seen yet and I think we need to accept that we’re not in a position where we can say there is no risk - that’s where common sense comes into this.

“Just because the rules say you can do something doesn’t mean you must.

“If you’ve been offered the vaccine and haven’t taken up the offer yet, please do so to protect yourself and those around you.”

With restrictions being lifted on household mixing and the weather looking to improve over the coming weeks we can expect to see an increase in visitors to the south west.

The health chiefs revealed that between 10 and 20 per cent of cases are related to the hospitality sector in the south west - similar numbers to that across England.

Debbie said: “As we are thinking about opening up we should celebrate the fact that the south west is a great place to come to and lots of the places people will want to visit are outdoors so we can really take advantage of that.

“We are expecting to see a few more people admitted to hospital and if case rates jump massively then that is going to be at the higher end.

“The longer and more careful we are about opening up, the more chances we have to vaccinate the people who haven’t been vaccinated yet which will keep the rate of hospitalisations down.

“We all need to be invested in this and we all need to be careful and it will reduce the pressure on our hospitals.”

Looking ahead to winter and the influx of new infections and flu season approaching, Dominic Mellon, deputy director of health protection said: “Restrictions come at a cost - we’ve got to manage Covid-19 so we don’t get into the position of having to impose more restrictions.”

Health chiefs have expressed the importance of maintaining robust infection protection control measures to avoid future restrictions.

Mike Wade said: “We are going to experience not only Covid-19 but other infections start to circulate which is why it is so important now that we maintain that robust infection protection control.

“It’s for the government to make the decisions [regarding future lockdown restrictions] policy wise but clearly we’ve seen a shift now and it is about individuals taking responsibility.

“Reflecting on the last 18-months we’ve seen some really impressive changes in infection protection control - let’s not lose that or get to a space where the government even need to consider restrictions

“Let’s push hard on doing the right thing now to prevent all that we can.”