New plea for people to stay at home

HEALTH bosses and police have urged people to stay at home and abide by the latest lockdown rules.

It comes as Covid cases surge and put NHS staff, such as those at Macclesfield Hospital, under increasing pressure.

Despite lockdown, and before that strict tier regulations, people have been travelling to other locations with Macclesfield Forest a popular destination.

Last week nine vehicles were stuck in snow there and when police rescued the occupants, only one car was found to be from Cheshire.

Under current rules people are strongly requested to stay at home and only leave the house for essential reasons such as getting a Covid test, food shopping, work, education, exercise or helping someone vulnerable.

Ian Ashworth, chair of the Cheshire and Merseyside Directors of Public Health Board the worst of the pandemic is far from over.

Backed by Cheshire Police, he said, “The next few weeks are going to be extremely difficult and it will be some time until we see the impact of the lockdown take effect.

“People need to stay at home as much as possible. Only shop when necessary. Exercise away from other people.

”If you cannot work from home and have a symptom free test centre in your area, get tested regularly so you can self-isolate before symptoms show.

“We are working hard with health and government partners to speed up and unblock barriers to the rollout of the vaccine for the most vulnerable groups but this will not happen overnight.

“We now have a number of licensed vaccines which will mean more vaccines becoming available locally. In the meantime, we need people to double their efforts to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.” If you develop symptoms of COVID (fever, new continuous cough or loss/ change of taste or smell) you can obtain a test by visiting nhs.uk/ coronavirus or calling

119.