ST HELENS and Knowsley Hospital Trust’s medical director has urged the public to take “every precaution” against Covid-19 this Christmas, as infection rates begin to surge across the region.

The government has already scaled back plans to allow households to form ‘Christmas bubbles’, allowing it only on Christmas Day itself.

This has been scrapped altogether in London and large parts of the South East, which have been placed under new Tier 4 restrictions following a surge in cases driven by a new, more infectious, variant of Covid-19

With infection rates rising across the region, NHS bosses are urging people to remain vigilant against the current threat, over the Christmas period.

Rowan Pritchard-Jones, medical director for St Helens and Knowsley Hospital Trust, said: “As always, we would urge members of our community to continue to take every precaution to protect themselves, their family and friends from this deadly virus.

“This festive period is going to feel so very different, and it will be hard not spending time with our extended family and friends, but we must remain vigilant, follow the guidance and make sure we do everything we can to prevent the infection rate from rising again.

“The best gift we can give our loved ones this Christmas time, is the promise we will do everything possible to be safely reunited and enjoy those happy times that will surely follow.”

Over the past week, infection rates have increased in all six boroughs in the Liverpool City Region.

In the week ending December 17, St Helens’ infection rate was 125 per 100,000 population, up from 123.3.

Between Friday and Sunday, St Helens recorded 111 new positive cases.

Another 53 cases were added on Monday – a significant jump from the 22 positive cases recorded one week earlier.

Dr Susan Hopkins, of Public Health England, told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the new Covid variant, believed to be 70 per cent more infectious, had been detected in all regions of the UK, bar Northern Ireland.

And during a Downing Street press conference on Monday night, the government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said the mutant strain was “everywhere” in the UK.

Across the Liverpool City Region, infection rates are rising fast, and hospital admissions have also seen a slight increase.

In Knowsley, the number of positive cases increase from five on December 14 to 43 one week later, while Liverpool has seen cases jump from 39 to 152.

Locally,  hospital admissions have been falling since November, but appear to have plateaued over the past week.

As of December 17, there were 40 patients diagnosed with Covid-19 at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

In addition, there were three Covid patients in Whiston Hospital’s intensive care unit, the same number as one week earlier.

Between December 14 and 20, the trust recorded three coronavirus deaths, although this could rise due to a lag in how deaths are reported.

One week earlier, the trust registered eight coronavirus deaths.

Since the start of the pandemic in mid-March, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has recorded 366 coronavirus deaths.