Covid still ‘very evident’ in Notts hospitals

Amanda Sullivan, accountable officer for NHS Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said the virus is still ‘very much in our communities and in our hospitals’.

During the last in a series of pandemic-specific briefings to regional media, public health leaders in the county also said there could be at least four of five years ahead as we ‘learn to live safely’ with Covid.

Ms Sullivan said the numbers of people in local hospitals were coming down slowly – but there were still 12 deaths in Nottinghamshire in the week to February 23, compared with 10 the previous week.

She said: “We saw 114 admissions in the week to February 20 compared with 138 the previous week.

“We had 306 people in beds in hospital with Covid on February 22 compared with 303 the prior week.

“The overall direction is slowly reducing in hospitals. We had three people so seriously ill with Covid they needed to be on a ventilator.

“This is the lowest number we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic.”

Jonathan Gribbin, Nottinghamshire Council public health director, said the county is reaching ‘a significant milestone, but not yet the final destination’.

He stressed the importance of people taking a test if they have symptoms and staying at home if they test positive – despite the legal requirement to self-isolate ending on February 24.

The Government has also announced that from April 1, free PCR and lateral flow testing for the virus will end.

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