Whatsapp
Lincoln could be in discussions over tier 2 (high) restrictions by the weekend, health bosses have said.
Lincolnshire County Council’s public health officials are advising that the city — at least — could be put into a higher tier as numbers continue to rise across the county.
Lincoln’s rate of infection per 100,000 of the population alone rose from 154.1 on October 16 to 213.5 on October 23, just above the England average of 212.5.
The city has had 1,063 cases since the pandemic began, with the number on Monday increasing by 59.
How cases have increased in the city of Lincoln up to October 26.
On Monday, 346 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Greater Lincolnshire, pushing October’s total to more than 5,000.
The county’s Outbreak Management Board, which includes representatives from councils, health and other response bodies, will meet on Wednesday to discuss the next steps.
Neighbours Nottinghamshire on Monday confirmed that Nottingham city along with the districts of Rushcliffe, Gedling and Broxtowe face tier 3 lockdown from midnight on Thursday — though Newark on the Lincolnshire border will stay in tier 2 for now.
Lincolnshire’s neighbours in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire have much higher COVID-19 infection rates. | Data: GOV UK
Lincolnshire County Council’s assistant director of public health Tony McGinty said Lincolnshire was “fairly close” to having similar conversations.
“If you look at the numbers in some of our districts we probably are going to be wanting to talk about taking additional measures over the coming week or two,” he said.
“Some of those numbers […] are looking quite difficult.”
He added: “Lincoln is having some particularly challenging times at the moment with its numbers […] for me at the moment, the district I’m spending most of my time talking to colleagues about and talking to City of Lincoln Council colleagues about is Lincoln.”
He said local and national leaders may want to have that conversation “over the coming days or weeks”.
The restrictions for tier 2 – high – lockdown.
Lincolnshire is tier 1 – medium – lockdown.
Lincolnshire is currently still on the medium (tier 1) level for the the new three-tier lockdown system of COVID-19 risk, which means it has no extra restrictions on top of the nation-wide ones.
If that decision is made to move up a tier, the next steps will include discussions over what the additional measures will mean and what extra funding will be made available.
