Brighter times ahead – but Notts health experts warn ‘it’s essential we continue to exercise caution and care’ with Covid

Covid cases are starting to flatten across Nottinghamshire, but are still at more than 1,000 per day.

From January 27, under the Government’s Plan A, people will no longer be advised to work from home and face coverings will no longer be mandatory in indoor venues.

Organisations will also be able to choose whether to require NHS Covid-passes.

Jonathan Gribbin, Nottinghamshire Public Health director, said today, Friday, January 21, that across the county more than 68,000 people had received a positive PCR tests over the last eight weeks when Omicron was first detected.

He said: “There is a flattening off of people in hospital with Covid in Nottinghamshire, all be it, a flattening off of levels that is still challenging for our services.

“Over the last eight weeks, we have had sharp increases. That means 1,000 people a day are testing positive for coronavirus, but a significant reduction compared with a week or two ago.

“There are some early signs those reductions are flattening off. Although we have come down from the highest peak, we still find ourselves with high levels of cases.

“We can look ahead to spring with optimism, but it’s essential we continue to exercise caution and care. Getting vaccinated remains the best single way to protect ourselves.

“The pandemic is not yet behind us. If we think of it as a mountain, we are still walking along a ridge with some steep drops and hazards potentially. We have not yet come back down to the green valley.”

‘No pressure’

Amanda Sullivan, from NHS Nottinghamshire clinical commissioning group, said the last few weeks had been ‘incredibly challenging for the NHS’.

She said: “Thankfully we are not seeing hospital rates rise in the way they did last year and this is directly related to 84 per cent of over-18s having had two jabs and 64 per cent having had a booster and people are still coming forward.

“We still have pockets of our communities to come forward. We are putting on special clinics where people can walk in and have a chat with an expert, with no pressure to have a vaccine.”

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