South Yorkshire on brink of 2,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with 1,137 in Sheffield

The number of coronavirus cases in South Yorkshire is expected to top 2,000 in the coming days as the county’s death toll increases.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

There have been nearly 1,950 cases of COVID-19 across Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley with 181 deaths recorded.

There were 17 more fatalities recorded across South Yorkshire in the latest 24 hour reporting period.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sheffield has 1,137 cases and has seen 89 deaths while in Doncaster, 31 people have died from a total of 183 cases.

There have been nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases in South Yorkshire.There have been nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases in South Yorkshire.
There have been nearly 2,000 coronavirus cases in South Yorkshire.

In Rotherham, 321 cases have been recorded with 23 deaths reported.

There have been 38 deaths in Barnsley from a total of 297 cases.

Meanwhile, a medical expert has reassured the public after it emerged Sheffield has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in England per 100,000 of the population – and said the city is “really lucky” thanks to the “phenomenal” amount of testing taking place.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Andrew Lee, a reader of public health at Sheffield University, said people should take official coronavirus figures “with a pinch of salt” in a bid to calm fears over the numbers.

On the high number of confirmed cases in the city, he said: “It's because Sheffield Teaching Hospitals have done lots and lots and lots of testing. A good couple of weeks ago they were doing over 1,000 tests a day and this was almost 10 per cent of the total number in the country.

“So, Sheffield has one per cent of England's population but because it's doing 10 per cent of the tests there's a huge discrepancy there.”

He said: “The number of cases we can see is like the tip of an iceberg. The iceberg is the same size, but if you test more you see more of the iceberg.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Dr Lee said: “The number of tests they are doing in Sheffield is phenomenal. We are really lucky.

“A lot of the testing we have done in Sheffield was in its health workers. Being able to test all the staff who might have symptoms allows the hospital to see who can return to work.

On Friday, Centre for Cities found Sheffield had 162 confirmed Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people in the city – four more than London.