January 27, 2021 4.54 pm This story is over 38 months old

289 COVID-19 cases, 20 deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday

Schools opening delayed and flights quarantined
| Photo: Stuart Wilde for CoLC

There have been 289 new coronavirus cases and 20 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 233 new cases in Lincolnshire, 32 in North Lincolnshire and 24 in North East Lincolnshire.

On Wednesday, 18 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and two in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported 15 new local hospital deaths on Wednesday, including nine at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and six at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG).

On Wednesday, national cases increased by 25,308 to 3,715,054, while deaths rose by 1,725 to 101,887.

The Prime Minister has said “it will not be possible to reopen schools” after the February half term, with the hope to bring pupils back from March 8.

Boris Johnson also told MPs that UK nationals and residents returning from “red list” countries will be placed in a 10-day quarantine in government-secured accommodation, such as hotels.

The 22 “red list” countries where there is a risk of known variants include South Africa, Portugal and South American nations.

In the House of Commons on Wednesday, the MP for Cleethorpes, Martin Vickers praised travel quarantine proposals but raised concerns of the “element of contact between” those in hotels “however well-policed it is”.

He urged the home secretary to give “assurance that there will be appropriate measures in place to limit mixing to the absolute minimum.”

Priti Patel responded: “We are working quickly across government right now with the industry, with partners and organisations within the sector to bring these new measures and work on the hotel package.”

Further details of this will be put out in due course, according to the home secretary.

In Lincolnshire, bin collections in Boston and in parts of East Lindsey will be suspended for the rest of the week due to COVID-related staff absences.

The collections will be suspended from Wednesday, January 27 as a number of East Lindsey District Council’s and Boston Borough Council’s waste crews either have coronavirus or are self-isolating.

Nationally, “a legacy of poor decisions” by the UK before and during the pandemic led to one of the worst death rates in the world, scientists have said.

Professor Linda Bauld, public health expert from the University of Edinburgh, said the UK’s current position was “a legacy of poor decisions that were taken when we eased restrictions”.

People infected with the new coronavirus variant discovered in the UK are less likely to report losing taste and smell as part of their symptoms, a study has found.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the condition was “significantly less common” in patients who tested positive for the new variant compared to those with other variants of COVID-19.

Greater Lincolnshire has seen a fall in its infection rates once again with only slight increases in the districts of Boston and North Lincolnshire.

This mirrors the national average infection rate also decreasing on Wednesday.

Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate over the last seven days up to January 27, according to the government dashboard:

Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Jan 20 to Jan 27. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite

Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Wednesday, January 27

Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.

46,917 cases (up 289)

  • 32,844 in Lincolnshire (up 233)
  • 7,204 in North Lincolnshire (up 32)
  • 6,869 in North East Lincolnshire (up 24)

1,822 deaths (up 20)

  • 1,311 from Lincolnshire (up 18)
  • 278 from North Lincolnshire (up two)
  • 233 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)

of which 1,086 hospital deaths (up 15)

  • 667 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up nine)
  • 33 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
  • 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
  • 385 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up six)

3,715,054 UK cases, 101,887 deaths

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.