Reasons for cautious optimism, but directors of public health for Notts, Jonathan Gribbin and Alison Challenger, say we must stick to the coronavirus rules for continued improvement

There are reasons for cautious optimism regarding coronavirus said Jonathan Gribbin, the director of public health Nottinghamshire, in a covid media briefing today.

Mr Gribbin told reporters: "The first reason for cautious optimism this week is what we're hearing now about the early availability of a vaccine and the prospect that in 2021 this or other vaccines that come forward are going to provide a means to protect people in Nottinghamshire from coronavirus.

"That's not going to be available to us on any scale in the next few weeks but we will start to see that coming through and I'm looking forward to the time in 2021 when that protection is properly in pace across the whole population.

"More immediately, another reason for cautious optimism is what we see happening in terms of infection rates across Nottinghamshire. So although coronavirus is still circulating widely in all our communities, and represents a hazard right across Nottinghamshire wherever we are, what we're seeing now is that rates are starting to level off or, in some parts of the county, just starting to take a downward turn.

"That's the case whether we're taking into account all age rates or whether we're focussing in more specifically rates around older people, over 60s. So although there is some variation in the county and although this provides us with absolutely no reason or cause to relax any of the discipline that everyone is employing, it does provide us with some very cautious reasons for optimism.

"It's too early yet to say whether that represents a sustained downward trend, but I'm hoping that by the end of next week, or perhaps even by early next week, to see a continuation of the early downward trend that we have observed so far and that's something I'm really looking forward to seeing."

Mr Gribbin paid tribute to all of those people sticking to the rules.

"People are working hard to follow lockdown measures," he said: "Working hard to stay at home ensuring that they're not mixing with other households, observing the Hands, Space and Face guidance.

"I would particularly pass on my thanks to residents who find that they need to be isolating and I want to thank them because by sticking to the guidance they are providing a critical role in breaking the chain of transmission and stopping the spread so I think the rest of us will owe a debt of gratitude to them.

"Coronavirus continues to circulate widely in all of our communities. That translates into pressures on lots of local services and on the local economy in terms of business continuity and for our care sector and our hospitals - it continues to give rise to some really severe pressures.

"In that wider context, I think we have the two reasons for some cautious optimism this morning. In both cases they provide reasons why we need to stick to the current lockdown measures."

Alison Challenger, the director of public health for Nottingham City, said the position of the county was replicated in the city.

She said it took a while for that to reflect in the amount of people in hospital.

"We still seeing very many people in hospital with covid and some of them not very well at all."

She said she hoped in 2021 to see some form of normality.