Doncaster health chief issues statement on coronavirus cases after fears of local lockdown

Dr Rupert Suckling, Director of Public Health at Doncaster Council, has issued a statement after national reports suggested the town had seen a spike in cases in recent weeks, sparking fears of a new lockdown.

Responding to the claims, he said: “More data is now becoming available nationally and this will be open to scrutiny and speculation.

“Since the reporting of both pillar 1 and pillar 2 testing we have seen a high number of positive cases beginning with the week 25th to 31st May and this coincided with widespread testing in our care homes where we identified a number of asymptomatic positive cases.

“We have also seen cases in health and care workers, with sporadic cases in schools.

“However, the weekly testing from the week 8th -14th June shows a significant reduction.

“We are not complacent and encourage everyone with symptoms to self-isolate and arrange to be tested.

“We are working closely with the local Public Health England centre which has not raised any concerns with us.

“The advice about hand washing, keeping our distance and following guidance is still paramount and will help to manage infection outbreaks.”

The Telegraph reported that Doncaster, second in the table to Leicester, which has gone into a localised lockdown, saw 43 new infections - half the cases Leicester reported - within the same two week period.

There have been 221 deaths from coronavirus in Doncaster.