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Stay at home plea

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By Fiona Reid
Front
Stay at home plea

DUMFRIES and Galloway has experienced its biggest ever weekly jump in coronavirus, with 282 new cases recorded in the last seven days. And the total rose by 92 in a day yesterday — more than at the height of lockdown.

It means that just over one per cent of the region’s population has now received a positive diagnosis.

Meanwhile, ten people are currently in hospital as a result.

And the worrying new figures come as concern grows among health chiefs about outbreaks of the new virus strain in both Wigtownshire and Annandale and Eskdale, with Gretna, Annan and Stranraer all flagged as hotspots.

The more highly transmissible B.1.1.7 variant has been identified in both localities and is thought to be behind the rapid spread, which has led to an infection rate of 128.3 per 100,000 people and eight per cent of all the region’s covid tests coming back as positive.

As a result, an appeal has been issued to people locally not just to follow all the new Level 4 restrictions, but to stay at home as much as possible and help limit the spread.

Interim director of public health Valerie White said: “We’d like to thank everyone experiencing symptoms who has self-isolated and come forward to be tested.

“However, this is a rapidly evolving situation where we expect to see more cases appearing. At the current rate of spread, there is a very serious concern about how this will impact on services.

“In the days to come, a percentage of people among these newly diagnosed covid cases will grow ill and the number of people needing hospitalisation is likely to increase – potentially impacting on our ability to provide help to those people who need it for any number of other non-covid reasons – whether that’s heart attacks, strokes, car accidents, etc.”

She called on the public to follow FACTS guidance about use of face coverings, hand hygiene and physical distancing and social interaction and added: “Covid does not just impact on those who develop the coronavirus, or who experience the worst of its symptoms – at this rate of increase, the effect of its rapid spread could be felt by anyone across the entire community.

“Real thought is required by everyone about what they can do to slow the spread. In particular, please be conscious of the threat posed at New Year, and consider the potential consequences both personally and community-wide.”

Meanwhile, there is some hope on the horizon after the approval yesterday of the new Astra Zeneca vaccine which will start to be rolled out in Dumfries and Galloway from Monday, to join the Pfizer one already in use. However, NHS Dumfries and Galloway are still waiting to confirm how many initial doses they will receive.

South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth welcomed the development, and said: “This is fantastic news and will be a real game changer in the fight against Covid-19 across Dumfries and Galloway. The scientists, volunteers and all others involved in the development of the latest vaccine deserve our thanks.

“We now need a swift rollout programme firstly to complete NHS and care worker vaccinations, as well as the most vulnerable and other key workers, but then clear plans on how it will be used for mass vaccination across the region.

“The worrying rise in cases locally shows we are in a race against time and this virus won’t be under control until that mass vaccination programme has been widely completed.”

Front

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