September 25, 2020 12.12 pm This story is over 42 months old

Lincolnshire “in the foothills” of second coronavirus wave

More than 540 cases so far this month
| Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Lincolnshire is “in the foothills” of a second wave of coronavirus, but not there yet, county health bosses said.

So far in September there have been 541 cases across the whole of Greater Lincolnshire, more than double the 204 confirmed during the whole of August.

Lincolnshire County Council’s assistant director of public health said there was now definitely a “sustained trend upwards” in new cases — however, added the county was not at the level it was back in March/April time.

“We’re kind of in the foothills now of a second wave at this point, and obviously all the new control measures that have been announced are designed to try and slow that down,” he said.

He said the new rules were “pretty clear” but that there are a lot of exemptions and he advised people to familiarise themselves by looking at the government guidance.

However, he added most were complying with the latest measures introduced by government.

On Thursday, the Medical Director at Public Health England said the “signals were clear”  and that a sharp rise in cases nationally was a “stark warning for us all”

Thursday cases increased by 6,634 across the UK — the highest number recorded by mass testing.

Mr McGinty agreed with the comments, particularly in the light of a rise in cases appearing in hospitals and new deaths lately.

“If people had any doubts about whether COVID is on the resurgence again and still capable of doing harm to us, then they just need to look at those numbers,” he said.

Health officials in the county are back to working around the clock on the situation, Mr McGinty confirmed, but the Lincolnshire Resilience Forum, which led the early response, has not yet been recalled back into action.

Mr McGinty advised people to download the new NHS track and trace app, adding that it was a “really good” way of leaping to the most recent guidance and helping keep on top of the situation locally.

The app currently says Lincolnshire is at “medium” risk but Mr McGinty said people did not need to worry if they were complying with the government guidance.