Health chief confirms the age group where coronavirus is spreading fastest in Sheffield

In his latest update, Greg Fell, Sheffield’s director of public health, says the infection rate among 0-14 year-olds and those aged 65 or older remains relatively flat, with around 100 new cases confirmed a week per 100,000 people.

But he says it is ‘beginning to grow and seemingly beginning to grow quite rapidly’ within the working age population.

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“That’s the most mobile population and the most likely to be in all sorts of different situations and contexts and able to acquire and pass the virus on,” he explains.

"That underscores the importance of limiting social contacts, washing hands, wearing face coverings and keeping your distance from people, the same things I’ve said before, and if you have symptoms you should get a test and act accordingly.”

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In his video message, published on Monday, January 4, before Boris Johnson announced the latest national lockdown, Mr Fell said he expected coronavirus rates to continue rising in Yorkshire, though this prediction was based on the region remaining under Tier 3 restrictions.

He said: “Everyone’s seen what’s happened in London, the South East and the Home Counties, and my sense is that will begin to happen across Yorkshire.”

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Sheffield’s coronavirus infection rate for the week ending on January 1 – the most recent date for which reliable statistics are available – is 239.7 new cases per 100,000 people, which is up from 165.3 during the previous week.