January 7, 2021 4.16 pm This story is over 38 months old

Major COVID-19 outbreak at Lincolnshire care home

Over 60 cases and five deaths at Grantham facility

A “significant outbreak” has been declared at a care home in Grantham, during a week which has seen South Kesteven take over as the district with the highest coronavirus infection rate in Greater Lincolnshire.

Red Court Care Community is a 49-bed care home on St Edmunds Close in Grantham, which was acquired by Red Homes Healthcare in 2017.

Some 30 residents and 32 staff have tested positive for coronavirus since mid-December. Five residents have died, three in the home and two in hospital.

This comes after local health bosses said on Monday that it was unclear what had caused South Kesteven’s spike in COVID-19 infections, but that cases have been increasing all over the East Midlands.

Tony McGinty, Assistant Director of Public Health at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We are aware of the significant outbreak at Red Court and are in contact daily with the management of the care home in supporting them to bring the situation back under control.

“A number of the cases in the home have been identified as people without symptoms found on routine testing of all staff and residents and the number of new cases in recent rounds of testing have been low.”

Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates up to January 6. | Data: Gov UK | Table: The Lincolnite