‘Cases should level off but stronger lockdown may be needed if rates increase,’ warns Doncaster health boss

Speaking at a recent health & wellbeing board meeting, Dr Rupert Suckling, director of public health at DMBC, said despite the current infection rates being high, South Yorkshire had some of the lowest rates in the country compared to London and the south east.

Current rates stand at around 360 per 100,000, down from nearly 600 per 100,000 at the end of October.

Doncaster Royal Infirmary said they were close to capacity with 220 patients with Covid-19 by the end of October. The numbers had fallen but they were still above levels during the peak of the first wave in April.

Dr Suckling said the majority of people in Doncaster were adhering to the lockdown rules but the council had received some complaints from people not wearing masks when they should, to social distancing matters.

But he added that the current lockdown was ‘not the same’ as the first and cases rise quicker than they fall.

Dr Suckling said: “We have our fantastic NHS but with support from the local authority and other partners, like Volunteer Action Doncaster, coordinating volunteers to come and help support the vaccination sites, so it’s a very different position to where we were two months ago.

“I would expect the rates to really stabilise over the next week or two and if not, that is likely that the national restrictions aren’t sufficient.

“What we’ve certainly seen in Doncaster is the vast majority of people are complying with the regulations so footfall in the town centre is down. Although we do get occasional complaints about face coverings and social distancing.

“My assessment is the vast majority of people are keeping those restrictions. The challenge is the demand on hospital services, particularly in the winter, and it’s snowing outside my window at the moment so hospitals are still going to be very busy for at least the next six to eight weeks, and maybe maybe longer.

“But in the meantime, we have got testing, we’ve got contact tracing, and we’ve got vaccinations up and running.”

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