THE possibility of the new Covid strain already being present in Barnsley cannot be ruled out, health bosses have warned.A government update showed the det.
× BARNSLEY will remain in tier three of the government’s four-tier system, health secretary Matt Hancock has announced.
It was announced at 3pm today that South Yorkshire - Barnsley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Rotherham - will remain in tier three until at least mid-January.
However the town’s public health director, Julia Burrows, has warned Barnsley could move into tier four in the future due to rising cases and a supposed ‘super strain’ of the virus being found across the country.
Ms Burrows said: “We’ve seen in other parts of the country that a new form of the virus is on the rise so it’s fair to assume another spell of lockdown will take hold locally.
× BARNSLEY is still in a ‘precarious’ position despite the town’s dwindling coronavirus infection rate, the borough’s health bosses have warned.
Since the start of November, the town’s seven-day coronavirus rate has been on a downward spiral, heading from 556.2 positive cases per 100,000 population at November’s peak, to just 136.9 per 100,000 as of December 8.
Despite this, the current trend is levelling out and the rate in over 65s is starting to once again increasing, prompting Julia Burrows, Barnsley’s director of public health, to warn residents of the Christmas period mixing.
She said: “The decreasing trend we have been seeing recently now seems to be slowing down and levelling out.
× AN 83-year-old became the first person in Barnsley to be vaccinated against coronavirus as part of a national rollout this week - and questioned why others deemed vulnerable would opt against taking it.
The widespread vaccination programme started in the town on Tuesday as Herbert Barker, from Wombwell, received the ground-breaking vaccine.
GP practices across the town have come together to set up a local vaccination service in Barnsley which will start by vaccinating those aged 80 and over on a phased basis this month and in 2021.
Herbert said: “I think it’s been something the whole world has been trying to get a vaccine for so now it’s here, why not take it?
× GOVERNMENT ministers who opted to keep Barnsley in its tier three bracket yesterday - despite a sharp decline in coronavirus cases during the last six weeks - have been urged to include local leaders in the future decision-making process.
The borough will remain in strict measures for the Christmas period after health secretary Matt Hancock announced only Bristol and North Somerset would move from tier three to two.
It had been hoped Barnsley’s hospitality trade - hit hardest by two lockdown spells and recent weeks spent closed due to the town’s tier three placing - would be given respite thanks to declining positive rates which have seen huge reductions from an October peak of 568.7 cases per 100,000 to just 136.9 as of last week.