Doncaster public health boss says Covid cases are double previous official figures and schools should not open yet

Doncaster health boss says borough Covid cases are double previous official figures and schools should not re-open yet
By David Kessen
Published 5th Jun 2020, 18:02 BST
Updated 9th Jun 2020, 12:23 BST
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In a letter to all the borough's headteachers, Doncaster’s director of public health, Dr Rupert Suckling, revealed newly available figures arising from the NHS test and trace system were much higher than those on the Government website.

He said: “As you will probably be aware, the national bioalert level remains at four. This indicates that a Covid-19 epidemic is in general circulation and transmission is high. It is clear from national data that the death rate in Doncaster is slowly falling and I am confident that we have passed the peak of the virus in the borough, contrary to what you may have read in some national tabloids earlier this week.

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“However, death rates do not give an accurate picture of community transition levels and, as I have said to you previously, this is currently my biggest concern.“With the launch of the NHS Test and Trace system late last week, we have now started to get a more detailed picture of how the virus is circulating locally. In the week to date I've been informed of 109 additional COVID-19 cases in Doncaster by the NHS Test and Trace system, this is double the number of reported cases in the area on the www.gov.uk website.

Rupert Suckling, Doncaster Director of Public health. Picture: Marie Caley NDFP-26-07-19-RoundTable-MentalHealth-2Rupert Suckling, Doncaster Director of Public health. Picture: Marie Caley NDFP-26-07-19-RoundTable-MentalHealth-2
Rupert Suckling, Doncaster Director of Public health. Picture: Marie Caley NDFP-26-07-19-RoundTable-MentalHealth-2

“Of those 109 people with positive tests, almost 70 per cent have already been followed up locally and contacts have been traced.”

He warned that in terms of what this meant for schools, he still believed it was too early to open schools next week.

He added: “However, I am optimistic that when I write to you next week we could be in a much stronger position. The fact that the national Test and Trace system is up and running locally and that I'm now receiving local data via this service gives me grounds for optimism. I am hopeful that as the new Test and Trace system becomes more embedded, the risk will further reduce over the next week, meaning we may be in a position to have a different conversation around possible opening dates very soon.”

Click for the full letter

Related topics:Rupert SucklingDoncasterNHSGovernment