Sheffield to be under Covid restrictions for ‘foreseeable future’, warns health boss

Sheffield is not in a position to lift restrictions any time soon despite the city’s infection rate being far lower than the national average, a health boss has said.
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The average area in England had an infection rate of 553 per 100,000 people in the seven days to 8 January, but Greg Fell, director of public health at Sheffield City Council, said the city’s infection rate is currently ‘approaching about 300’ as of Tuesday.

Mr Fell insisted that figure is still ‘far too high for comfort’, however.

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He said: “They are still rising but beginning to plateau [infection rates].

The coronavirus infection rate in Sheffield is 'far too high for comfort'.The coronavirus infection rate in Sheffield is 'far too high for comfort'.
The coronavirus infection rate in Sheffield is 'far too high for comfort'.

"I’m very tentative about that and wouldn’t want to call that too soon.”

There were around 125 cases per 100,000 people in Sheffield in the build up to Christmas, Mr Fell said.

He added: “We are not in a position to change any of the restrictions any time in the near future. We are not yet seeing the effect of the lockdown.

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"The data on that will become clearer over the next week or so, but I think we will be in the position of having restrictions in place for the foreseeable future if we’re going to get our rates down to the 100 per 100,000 or so range.”

Michael Gove has suggested the current lockdown could remain in place until March.

Mr Fell said: “As we get into spring it’s possible that things will come down much, much more but I think we will be in quite a difficult place for the next period to come.

“It’s not yet certain whether the restrictions, the lockdown, is restrictive enough to hold in check the new variant.”