Doctor warns measures must continue to keep Blackpool's Covid infection rates down

Blackpool Council’s director of public health Dr Arif Rajpura told councillors there were now 10 or fewer new cases per day, compared to 77 per day during the peak of the pandemic.

Transmission rates are now highest among older teenagers and young adults who are mixing due to work commitments but have not yet been vaccinated.

But he warned a meeting of the adult social care and health scrutiny committee, other measures would be vital to maintaining low infection rates as lockdown eased.

These included a strong track and trace system, and the council’s public health team has now taken over the full running of the system as well as continuing its outbreak management role.

Weekly calls are made between Dr Rajpura and all schools and care homes to assist them, while regular advice is also shared with the voluntary sector. This will be extended to businesses as the economy reopens.

Dr Rajpura said: “The road map is cautious and we need people to keep following the rules.”

The meeting also heard there was now a referral service in place in Lancashire for GPs to refer patients suffering the effects of long Covid.

Dr Rajpura added: “Long Covid is akin to recovering from a stroke, where people have that level of rehabilitation.

“It’s not just people who have been in ICU, people with relatively minor initial illness can also end up with long Covid.”

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