Doncaster's Covid rates highest ever as 100 in hospital, but health chief says situation 'calmed'

Doncaster’s Covid infection rates have reached their highest ever, with more than 100 people in hospital – but the town’s health chief has said the situation has ‘calmed.’
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In his weekly update, Dr Rupert Suckling, Director of Public Health in Doncaster, said that the latest figures were more than double the previously recorded highest figure last summer.

He said: “Covid-19 cases across Doncaster continue to soar - 100% of cases across the borough are now thought to be the Omicron variant.

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The latest infection rates are 1993.1, covering 26 December - 1 January.

Dr Rupert SucklingDr Rupert Suckling
Dr Rupert Suckling

"This is now more than double our previous highest rate of 923.7 which we saw in mid-July following the Euros.

"Hospital rates seem to have calmed following a surge of admissions last week and currently stand at 110 patients in active Covid care.

"More good news is that, to date, the impact on the numbers of people in ITU has been minimal, we currently have 5 people unfortunately requiring ITU support.

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He added: “There has been a lot of talk in the media about Omicron being milder than other variants, which national studies and local experiences do support.

"However, when community transmission is this high there are still very significant risks to having even a milder version of the virus circulating.

"Hospital numbers will continue to increase over coming weeks, modelling is showing that we are expecting a very challenging January.

“We are working very hard to ensure that these issues do not impact on our most vital frontline services, but to do this we are having to think about how we can do things differently.

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"This means that, in turn, you may also be asked to do things a bit differently while we get through this latest peak, such as accessing health services differently or understanding that response and wait times may be higher across all public sector services in the short-term.

“The coming weeks are going to be challenging for us all, but as always I am confident that together we can rise to this challenge.

"The best way you can all support us is to help us slow the community spread by continuing to test, getting your vaccinations, ventilating rooms when you are meeting others and maintaining good hand hygiene.”