Xmas scuppered by soaring rates

A year in Canterbury like no other before will end under a Christmas lockdown and amid worrying uncertainty about when the tough Covid-19 restrictions will end.

A new strain of the virus has seen infection rates across the district - and wider Kent - soar in recent weeks, forcing Boris Johnson to scrap his five-day festive bubbles plan and put the county into a new Tier 4. Many people across Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable will now spend Christmas without seeing loved ones after the Government banned mixing with other households.

The district’s shops and gyms have also been forced to shut, continuing a merry-go-round of lockdown restrictions which threatens the future of hundreds of local businesses and many more jobs.

And with cases and deaths increasing, and pressure on local hospitals still high, few are optimistic about the county being lifted out of Tier 4 any time soon. Some feel the situation could worsen, predicting a post-christmas spike caused by people ignoring the new measures by meeting family and friends on December 25. Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield believes announcing the festive bubble rules was a mistake. “The government should never have announced the so-called Christmas amnesty at a time when rates were sharply rising in Kent, and it is unclear exactly when they became aware of this virulent new strain,” she told the Gazette.

“The disruption at their sudden change of course and the introduction of Tier 4 has far more damaging effects than if they had warned people in advance that family and group gatherings would not be allowed.”

Rates in Canterbury have continued to rise in the run-up to Christmas, with 1,055 new cases across the district in the week up to December 17.

On that day - the date at which the most complete figures were available as the Gazette went to press - its rate stood at 638 weekly cases per 100,000 people, a rise of 26%.

At the same time, Kent’s rate was 705, against a national average of 305.

Ms Duffield said: “I’m very concerned about the rising rates in Canterbury and the whole of east Kent, which is currently one of the worst affected areas in the UK. Our local hospitals have been woefully underfunded and critically under-staffed for far too long and simply won’t be able to cope if rates continue to rise.

“Many patients are already being treated outside Kent.” Figures show that on Tuesday

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and MP Rosie Duffield there were 374 patients with increased by one, to 27. Covid-19 in east Kent’s hospiHealth chiefs will take some tals - 25 more than the week comfort in the fact the rises are before - and almost 1,000 across not as sharp as in recent weeks, the county. suggesting patient numbers are The number of people on a starting to level off. ventilator in east Kent also But with concerns over Christmas mixing, and the spread of the new virulent strain, there are fears the situation could worsen in January. Ms Duffield says schools should not reopen until mass testing is in place.

“As things stand at the moment, there is no way that schools in east Kent should return in early January unless absolutely safe to do so,” she said. “And that will mean the rolling out of far more tests for those who are asymptomatic.” So far, mass testing of people without symptoms is only taking place in Swale, Thanet and Medway, but will be rolled out across the county.