Four further Covid deaths in our region

ANOTHER four people have sadly lost their lives in the battle against coronavirus at East Yorkshire hospitals as the overall figure heads towards 800.

The new hospital death figures released by NHS England, brings the number of lives lost across both Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital to 788.

Two patients passed away in our hospitals on Tuesday, February 24 and two more on Wednesday, February 25.

While cases are falling in most areas, Yorkshire and the Humber is the only region to see a rise in the past seven days, according to Public Health England.

Hull saw 56 new case in the past 24 hours in the latest Government data with the total since the pandemic began standing at

117,312 while the infection rate per 100,000 of the population is 6,664.2.

In the East Riding there have been 41 news cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 16,616 with an infection rate of 4,870.3.

Nationally, the Government said a further 323 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK total to 122,070.

Separate figures published by the UK’S statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 142,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

The Government also said that, as of 9am yesterday, there were a further 9,985 lab-confirmed cases in the UK. It brings the total to 4,154,562.

Meanwhile, the vaccination programme continues to be rolled out at a pace.

Government data up to February 24 shows that 18,911,978 jabs given in the UK so far with 18,691,835 being first doses, a rise of 448,962 on the previous day.

TWO local Hull companies have come together to provide Humber Rescue with 14 new Gecko Headwear helmets, costing a total of £3,850.

Over the past year Humber Rescue’s fundraising has almost dried up due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore, heavily relied on donations from companies and the public to keep them operating.

Any large outlay for equipment is felt financially by the charity, especially having replaced its lifeboat last November costing a total of £120,000.

David Roberts, chairman and trustee of Humber Rescue, said: “We are very grateful for companies such as Springfield Solutions & Eon Visual Media. Without their support and their beliefs in Humber Rescue, and the values we stand for, there would be no launches, no lives saved, and without them we just wouldn’t be able to survive.”

With Humber Rescue’s current helmet’s coming to the end of their life, and new ones costing £275 each, meant another hefty cost for the charity. However, Eon Visual Media and Springfield Solutions pulled together and came to the aid of Humber Rescue.

Steve Forster, director of Springfield Solutions and Eon Visual Media, said: “We at Springfield and Eon see this as a tremendous volunteered service that helps to keep our estuary safe in many ways.

“We are proud to provide assistance to allow this valuable service to operate.