Signs of hope are appearing in Dumfries and Galloway’s desperate battle against coronavirus.
But health board bosses are warning the region is still in a “grave and precarious” situation despite a significant drop in case numbers.
There were 561 new cases in the area last week – down from 801 positive tests the previous week.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway chief executive, Jeff Ace (below), said: “It’s far too early to take too much comfort from this drop in numbers.
“This is still a worryingly high number of new cases, and we’re still in a very grave and precarious position.
“The pressure on our health and social care services is actually continuing to increase - as the hundreds of new cases gradually translate into significant numbers of people suffering the most serious effects of the coronavirus.
“This is because of the delay in time between someone developing Covid and potentially becoming extremely unwell.”
He added: “Many of the people currently being admitted to hospital because of Covid actually became positive towards the start of the year, when the numbers of new cases hadn’t yet reached their record high.”
The number of people being treated in the region’s hospitals has increased dramatically since the turn of the year and led to the creation of a walk-in test centre in Dumfries this week.
On Hogmanay there were 14 people being treated in hospital, which had more than doubled to 29 one week later. And by yesterday the figure had risen to 55.
Similarly, the number of people in intensive care has gone from less than five at the end of 2020 to 13 on Thursday.
Mr Ace added: “Our health and social are systems are being sorely tested by this, and a plateauing of current rates would only perpetuate the strain – potentially over weeks, and incredibly difficult to sustain.”
A further 66 people tested positive for coronavirus yesterday, taking the region’s total for 2021 to 1,271. The overall total for the pandemic now stands at 2,976.
The health board’s stats suggest there may be some light at the end of the tunnel as in the week ending January 10 there were 561 new cases, compared to 801 the previous week.
Likewise, the number of close contacts told to self isolated also fell dramatically from 1970 to 862.
With 4,886 tests carried out, the positivity rate fell from 14.9 per cent to 13.5 per cent.
Mr Ace said: “Any decline in numbers whatsoever is extremely welcome, and we’re grateful for all the efforts and sacrifices which continue to be made by everyone across Dumfries and Galloway in response to the situation. However, we need to keep working to bring these numbers down.”
