Village hit by ‘staggering’ rise in cases

VILLAGERS have been urged to be vigilant and follow lockdown restrictions “to the letter” after a huge surge in Covid-19 infections.

The Forest Town and Newlands area of the district currently has the secondhighest active rate in Nottinghamshire. It currently has a rate of 978.2 per 100,000 people, a slight fall from 1,013.8 cases per 100,000 on January 15.

Mansfield as a whole has seen the sharpest surge in infections of all districts and boroughs, more than doubling over a fortnight to reach 559.9 cases per 100,000 people in most recent data.

The district, alongside Ashfield, has the highest active rate of all the areas in Nottinghamshire.

Responding to the figures in Forest Town, councillors have urged villagers to “stay safe” and described the data as both “alarming” and “staggering”.

Councillor Martin Wright represents the Holly ward, in Forest Town, for the Mansfield Independents.

He said: “People have got to adhere to the Government rules, they’ve got to keep themselves safe and keep everybody else safe.

“I’m a little disappointed when people flout the rules and present the argument that it’s all a Government conspiracy.

“It is alarming.

“I always find that Forest Town in general is a caring community and they do look after each other when things go wrong – they always pull together.

“I am appealing to the residents of Forest Town to do what they know is right – and not just what they want to do – for themselves, and for everyone else.”

Councillor Mick Barton, leader of the Mansfield Independents, represents Maun Valley ward which covers part of Forest Town.

He echoed Councillor Wright’s message and said: “This number is staggering.

“It’s a lot of cases just for Forest Town. “The more testing you do, obviously you get more cases but I wouldn’t ever say it would be this high.

“I’m very surprised and it’s quite disturbing.

“All that can be said really is that people need to stay at home and be safe.

“Stick to the rules, stay at home, look after each other.”

The cases follow a plea from Mansfield’s mayor for residents to be vigilant, warning the town overall is in a “perlious position”.

Andy Abrahams, Labour mayor for Mansfield, said: “I feel the need to emphasise the facts which are challenging the whole country but more specifically the current situation in our district.

“We are in such a perilous position with the pandemic and everyone has a responsibility to obey lockdown rules to the absolute letter.

“The infection rate in Mansfield has doubled to more than 500 cases per 100,000 in the last two weeks, resulting in our local hospital having double the number of Covid patients than in the first wave.

“These rates need to come down to ease the situation in the local health and care system, which is now under enormous strain.” And mhe added: “The safest place for us all is at home.”

I am appealing to residents to do what they know is right – and not just what they want to do Martin Wright