Hastings MP Sally-Ann Hart is pleading with local people to follow Covid guidelines to stop the town moving in to Tier 3 the mosts restrictive level of measures designed to curtail the spread of coronavirus.

Covid-19 cases have been rising sharply and in a sustained way in recent days, Mrs Hart has warned this morning.

Speaking after the release of the latest data she 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.

…adopting an ‘only if you must’ attitude

“If we follow the restrictions, we can avoid Tier Three measures and protect our NHS, ultimately saving lives.”

In recent days the numbers of Covid-19 infections in Hastings has risen sharply, within four days there has been an increase from 69 per 100,000 to 114, with no sign of levelling off.

“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 a 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,” says Mrs Hart.

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