COUNCIL chiefs have called on Evesham and Pershore residents to protect each other after the country was plunged into a third Coronavirus lockdown.
Wychavon District Council chief Coun Bradley Thomas urged people to ‘pull together by staying apart’ in a bid to get a grip on the rising cases of the virus.
His comments follow Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s instruction for people across England to stay at home until at least the middle of February.
Residents must only leave home to shop for essentials, to work if they cannot work from home, to seek medical assistance or to escape domestic abuse.
In an echo of March’s lockdown, the clinically vulnerable will be told to shield and schools across the two counties have closed. Children of key workers will be allowed to attend school while early years setting such as nurseries will remain open.
The Prime Minister added it would be ‘extremely unfair’ for teenagers to sit GSCE and A-Levels this summer and offered a repeat of the predicted grades given to last summer’s cohort.
Infection rates in Wychavon have risen from 82 per 100,000 at the start of December to 284 per 100,000 on January 3.
Coun Thomas said: “I know it’s tough being separated from loved ones and it’s devastating for businesses forced to close but if we don’t get back on top of this virus there is a very real risk our NHS is overwhelmed, we can’t rebuild our economy and normality will slip further away.”
“Hope is definitely on the horizon we just have to hold on. We can do this if we all pull together, by sadly staying apart, for just a little while longer.”
Free parking in all Wychavon pay and display car parks will remain in place until further notice to help people shop for essentials and support the vulnerable. On-street parking restrictions still apply and are being enforced.
