Health chief hopes track and trace in Sheffield will improve as city enters Tier 3

Director of public health Greg Fell says lives depend on people hand washing, social distancing, following the rule of six and isolating when needed.

He spoke out as South Yorkshire prepares for stricter restrictions under Tier 3 from Saturday.

Mr Fell said: "There's no doubt about household mixing, cases start in the young and get to the old.

"We are managing this through consensus and consent and we need to support people to do the right thing.

"The choices made by 560,000 individuals, largely on private property, matter and lives depend on it.

"There's no doubt further restrictions are necessary to control the spread. The best way to protect both the vulnerable and the economy is to keep the community spread low."

Mr Fell said he hoped Sheffield could be given more of an input into the national testing system, especially in hard to reach communities.

"Test and trace needs to be quick. In Sheffield the number of people who are contacted within 48 hours is 72 per cent and that's not getting better.

"Our constant ask of Government since before August is to develop a complementary system to get to places you just can't get to with a big national system but it needs to be funded properly and that's part of the Tier 3 deal.

"Calderdale Council does this and it's test and trace rate is 92 per cent so there is evidence from elsewhere.

"Testing and contact tracing timeliness, which isn't in our local control, and the ability to reach hard to get to communities remains a significant concern.

"Hospitals are becoming steadily busier but the testing regime is very different now to March and they are keeping elective care going unlike in lockdown and that comes with consequences.

"There are huge improvements in treatment outcomes with drugs and intensive care practices so that's good news

"The bad news is there's an ongoing rise in ventilation beds and they are very very busy and it's only going one way. What we do to change the curve affects what goes on in hospitals."

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