Virus at 'critical level' in community as Hartlepool NHS doctor sees hundreds more patients compared to first wave

Dr Paul Williams, who assesses people with symptoms at clinics in Hartlepool and Stockton, says numbers are up by about 50% compared to the first outbreak last spring.

And he fears worse is still to come due to people mixing at Christmas.

Dr Williams said: "Things are much, much busier. I’ve never seen things Covid-wise as busy as they are at the moment.

“I’m ten out of ten concerned. This has reached critical level so the Government has done absolutely the right thing in having this further lockdown.

“On Monday in Hartlepool I saw person after person in their thirties, forties, fifties and sixties; relatively young people saying this is the worst illness of their life, that they couldn’t breathe and they were frightened of the pain.”

Clinics were set up in Hartlepool and Stockton during the first outbreak last year.

Patients showing coronavirus symptoms are referred by their GPs if they are worried about the severity of their condition and if it is thought they may need to be admitted to hospital.

Related story: Hartlepool’s council leader calls for togetherness during Lockdown 3

Dr Williams said the patients he has seen earlier this week started getting symptoms around Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

As they typically take several days to appear after contracting the virus, he said the impact of transmissions due to Christmas mixing is still to be seen.

"Next week I think we are going to be seeing the people who got it during Christmas mixing,” said Dr Williams.

"Things are likely to get much worse before they get better.”

He believes the new spike is linked to people mixing after the end of November’s second national lockdown plus the new variant.

He added there are likely to be thousands more cases in the community that medics are not seeing due to lack of symptoms or severity.

Dr Williams said hospitals are also “exceptionally busy” due to Covid on top of the normal winter pressures.

He said: “The key message is we’ve all got to mix with as few people as we possibly can because this virus loves it.

“We all need to be taking this really seriously.”

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