Hastings and Rother ‘teetering towards tier 3’ after sharp increase in Covid-19 cases

Residents across Hastings and Rother have been urged to follow the guidance and comply with social distancing measures after a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the past few days.
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Hastings and Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart said there is ‘real anxiety’ the area will see a prolonged period of high infection rates as seen in north Kent, which saw areas recording rates of up to 600 infections per 100,000 people.

The rates are still far below that in Hastings and Rother, but rates have risen sharply in the past four days.

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In Hastings, the rate of infection per 100,000 people has risen from 69 four days ago to 114, according to the latest figures. A total of 106 cases have been reported in the borough over the past seven days.

Covid-19 testing siteCovid-19 testing site
Covid-19 testing site

In Rother, the rate of infection now stands at 154 per 100,000 people – the highest in Sussex – after 148 cases were recorded across the district in the past week.

Speaking after the release of the latest Covid-19 data, Mrs Hart said: “I am very concerned by the sharp and sustained rise in Covid-19 cases across Hastings and Rother. Having spoken to the local Director of Public Health, there is now a real anxiety that we could see a prolonged period of high infection rates as seen in North Kent. If this is the case, then our area is now teetering towards Tier Three restrictions in the coming weeks.

“I am urging all local residents to please follow the guidance and comply with the Covid-19 restrictions. I know this is incredibly hard for all of us, but if we ignore the rules cases will go up, our hospital will be overwhelmed and ultimately, we will see the desperate scenes of families losing loved ones in the run up to Christmas. If we follow the restrictions, we can avoid Tier Three measures and protect our NHS, ultimately saving lives.”

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Hastings and Rother – along with the whole of East and West Sussex – entered tier two restrictions on Wednesday (December 2) following the end of the second national lockdown.

Sally-Ann HartSally-Ann Hart
Sally-Ann Hart

The tiers will be constantly reviewed, according to the government, with the next update due on December 16.

Mrs Hart added: “Given the rise in cases we must now all take responsibility for the number of social contacts that we have, adopting an ‘only if you must’ attitude to whether you need to meet up with people. As community we have worked so hard over the last ten months to ensure we have some of the lowest rates in the country, and we need to pull together once more to get the infection rates back down to their low levels. We beat the first wave. We’ve got through the second. Now let’s all pull together to avoid a third.”

What is the rate across East Sussex?

East Sussex is reporting a lower infection rate than seen in Hastings or Rother. Over the past week, the rate has risen slightly to 100.5 per 100,000 people after 560 cases were reported. A total of 254 of these were reported in Hastings and Rother.

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In Eastbourne, there were 72 cases reported in the week at a rate of 56.1 per 100,000 people, while in Lewes there were 56 new cases over the past seven days, at a rate of 54.2 per 100,000 people.

Wealden has a rate of 110.2 per 100,000 people after reporting 178 cases in the past seven days.