Public health warning as Greater Lincs Covid cases rising
This week marks two years since the start of the first lockdown
People across Greater Lincolnshire are being encouraged to continue taking precautions to avoid the spread of Covid-19.
Officials say infection rates have doubled or tripled over the last two to three weeks.
Greater Lincolnshire's Public Health Director, covering Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire councils, is encouraging people to continue being cautious.
Derek Ward told Greatest Hits Radio the speed of cases rising isn't new: "We've seen it when we've been going into very significant waves throughout the past couple of years. We've had a number of different waves depending on how you want to describe.
"Since we've been measuring infection in the population, where we are now is higher than we were last September.
"We've seen a little bit of an increase in the number of people in hospital who've got Covid. We haven't seen any increase in the number of people who need very specialist treatment. We're not seeing intensive care unit beds being occupied by people with Covid, which is very different to what we were seeing with the first and second waves, and the third wave."
It's as this week marks two years since the start of the first lockdown, and free testing comes to an end next week (1st April).
With no legal Covid restrictions currently in place, Derek added that attitudes are changing, but he reiterated the importance of getting vaccinated, and continuing with 'hands, face, space, fresh air' precautions.
He said: "We've still got free testing available. Please pick up some lateral flow test kits and test yourself, two or three times a week, for the next month or two if you can get three or four packs of kits. You'll know whether you've got Covid, whether you've got symptoms or not, and that will help you protect others."