'Busy weekend' at Doncaster hospitals as Covid outbreaks grip town's workplaces

People have been urged to stay away from Doncaster Royal Infirmary’s A&E and Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust’s other hospitals – except in an emergency – as health chiefs deal with the town’s latest wave of Covid-19 outbreaks.

Dr Rupert Suckling, the town’s director of Public Health, says that infection rates in the town are fluctuating ‘quite a lot’ with a number of outbreaks at workplaces.

In his weekly update on Doncaster’s coronavirus situation, he said: “Our latest data across all age groups shows our current infection rate is 187.6 per 100,000 for the week between 6 - 12 February.

“Over the past week we have seen the rates across the borough fluctuate quite a lot, seeing slight increases on some days. Although monitoring numbers is important to understand how we are doing, it is also vital that we understand the context behind these numbers.

“What we are currently seeing across Doncaster is a number of localised and controlled outbreaks across workplaces. The new 'Kent' strain is now the dominant virus across the borough and this means that outbreaks will become more likely due to how transmissible this virus is.

“We are working closely with businesses across Doncaster to look at how they can make workplaces as safe as possible, this includes accessing asymptomatic testing for their staff and ensuring strong policies around things such as social distancing and hand hygiene are in place. We are also supporting the Ministry of Justice and the local prisons to manage recent COVID outbreaks.”

As we prepare for the Prime Minister's roadmap announcement today, it has never been more important that we follow the basics and do all we can to keep case numbers as low as possible locally.”

Meanwhile, hospital bosses said: “We’ve had a busy weekend in our Emergency Departments, with the number of COVID-19 positive inpatients hovering just above 100 at present. Please only use this service if it is an emergency, for everything else contact NHS111, your GP, your local pharmacy or the Minor Injuries Unit.”