Sheffield public health boss praises city for 'pulling together' during a year of Covid
This week marks exactly 12 months since the first patients were treated in the city
Sheffield's Director of Public Health's paid tribute to the city for pulling together during the pandemic, a year since its first cases of coronavirus.
This week marks 12 months since two patients were treated for the virus at the Royal Hallamshire after returning from the Diamond princess cruise ship.
They were trasnferred to the hospital from Arrowe Park on the Wirral.
Sheffield's Director of Public Health Greg Fell tells us it was a busy time for him:
"I can remember those two people very well...my inbox and my phone exploded at that time!
"Most public health professionals dread the 6.15 on a Friday, just before a bank holiday call, from somebody that says "the chemical factory's on fire"...this was the call that was fifteen times worse than that call and it's lasted a whole year."
In the year since Sheffield doctors dealt with their first Covid patients, the city's lived through three national lockdowns to keep the virus at bay.
As of today 1,083 have lost their lives to coronavirus in Sheffield and 3,332 across South Yorkshire.
Reflecting on the past year of the pademic, Greg's praised the work of communities, agencies and public health workers for helping to tackle the virus:
"It's hard to say the city's had a good pandemic - pandemics are bad. More than a thousand people have died and that's not good in anybody's books. The city's pulled together and credit to Sheffielders, and all who work and sail in her, for having done that.
"I've got an amazing team of people - they've done amazing things and been hugely adaptable over a long long period. I'm hugely proud to have worked with them and for them over the last year."