Lowest hospital Covid admissions since September, reveals Doncaster public health boss
Doncaster has its lowest number of coronavirus hospital admissions since September, says the borough’s top public health official.
But Dr Rupert Suckling, the director of public health for Doncaster Council, says that it is a cause for concern that the borough still has one of the highest infection rates in the region.
In his latest message to residents, Dr Suckling said that rates of infection were continuing to fall very gradually in Doncaster.
He said: “For the period April 24 30 it was 62.8 per 100,000 people with a positivity rate of 2.3 per cent. Whilst our numbers may slowly be going in the right direction, we remain amongst the highest rates in the region - which is of course a cause for concern.
“Once again we have good news from the hospital however. Admissions are still low, as of yesterday Doncaster Royal Infirmary was treating just five Covid patients. This is the lowest figure since September and of course very welcome news but now is not the time to take our foot off the gas.”
He says the borough’s test and trace team continues to work incredibly hard to provide help and support for Doncaster residents who test positive for Covid and to trace any contacts they may have had.
He added as society unlocked and people spent more time out and about, it was really important that if the Test and Trace team ddid get in touch, people provided them with as much detail as possible.
He said: “This is a powerful tool in helping us to keep our rates as low as possible and continue on the government's roadmap out of lockdown - but it only works if we are given that vital information.
“We're all looking forward to reaching the next stage of the roadmap on May 17 and I expect confirmation of this to go ahead as planned from the Prime Minister early next week.
“However we're not there yet. It's important we don't get ahead of ourselves and we continue to stick to the current guidance in place - especially not mixing households indoors.”