April 10, 2020 10.35 am This story is over 47 months old

Lincolnshire health bosses expect coronavirus peak to be “lower but longer”

Country expected to still be in lockdown after the government’s next review period

Health bosses are now expecting Lincolnshire’s coronavirus peak to be lower but go on for a longer period of time.

Assistant director of public health at Lincolnshire County Council Tony McGinty said he expected the country to still be in lockdown after the government’s next review period.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday, said the lockdown would continue across the UK with another review expected at the end of next week.

Tony McGinty from Lincolnshire County Council. Photo: The Lincolnite

The latest figures showed 363 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Lincolnshire so far. Some 36 people who have tested positive have died in the county.

Mr McGinty said modelling showed numbers would continue to increase for a while.

“The early signs of the slowing down of the increase that we’ve been talking about nationally and locally may well change the shape of the curve that we’re expecting,” he said.

“So that surge time where you get a very sharp point at which there are an awful lot of numbers and then you start to see a decline pretty quickly, is starting to feel a bit more like a plateau than a mountain crag.

“I think we’re starting to expect now that the surge numbers when we reach that peak will be lower than we might have initially expected.

“But the demand at that level may go on for longer than we had expected.”

He said there was a lack of evidence for people to start being more liberal about the lockdown and reiterated the key messages of staying at home.

Dominic Raab, Foreign Secretary, at the government’s daily coronavirus press conference.

“The more strict people are now the more effect we have on the numbers and the earlier the government will feel able to start giving us a bit more freedom.

“So it’s really important that people keep up the effort to help the government make a decision as early as possible.”

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