Lauren McGaun
As Covid-19 cases have risen rapidly in Nottingham over recent days, a local lockdown announcement later this week now seems inevitable for the city, it has been reported. From today, Nottinghamshire residents across the county have been urged by councillors to avoid mixing indoors with other households in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus and treat the current situation as if they’re already in a form of local lockdown.
Director of Public Health, Alison Challenger, said yesterday that tougher restrictions being imposed by the government were ‘inevitable’
The local lockdown restrictions, which the government are expected to announce for the county as early as tomorrow, could also expand to preventing households mixing outdoors but, as yet, the exact lockdown restrictions which could be implemented are still unclear.
Director of Public Health, Alison Challenger, said yesterday that tougher restrictions being imposed by the government were ‘inevitable’, and that with the number of cases in Nottingham doubling in less than a week, residents should now start following the new expected local lockdown rules as soon as possible.
This annoucement by the council comes as the daily recorded coronavirus figures for the county showed that there were more than 400 cases on Tuesday 6th October in just 24 hours. This surge in cases for the city, now gives it a Covid rate of 440.1 to 100,000, making it the fifth highest rate in England and meaning the city now has a higher rate of infection than some areas that are already in local lockdown, including Leeds.
More wider local lockdown measures are needed to get the virus under control
With the infection rate varying across the county, it was originally anticipated that only the city boundary would face tougher restrictions but councillors have since confirmed that this is unlikely to be the case as more wider local lockdown measures are needed to get the virus under control.
Director of Public Health for Nottinghamshire Jonathan Gribbin told Nottinghamshire Live: “Covid-19 does not recognise geographical boundaries so we must stand together with our local authority partners to do all we can to fight this virus across all our communities.”
At the University of Nottingham itself, over 400 students and eight staff members were confirmed as positive for coronavirus but this number is likely to have since risen as the figures were recorded up to the 2nd October. This figure is higher than many other university campuses as the University is running its own asympotamatic testing service, meaning its recording more positive Coronavirus tests than many other campuses have been able to.
Residents and students are being urged to stay in their household bubbles where possible, follow social distancing and keep up good hygiene measures, such as washing hands regularly
Across campus today, Impact members also saw camera crews from media outlets, such as ITV and Sky News, upping fears students were feeling surrounding the virus and indicating that a local lockdown announcement was imminent.
As Nottinghamshire residents wait for any further announcements on local restrictions, residents and students are being urged to stay in their household bubbles where possible, follow social distancing and keep up good hygiene measures, such as washing hands regularly.
Lauren McGaun
Featured image courtesy of shining.darkness on Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
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