Hull: Demand for schools to close as cases spiral in England’s Covid hot spot

Hospital chief calls for tighter lockdown restrictions with city on a knife edge

Two women wearing face masks walk down the street outside Hull Royal Infirmary in Hull, England. Hull recorded 726.8 new cases per 100,000 people in the week to November 7, nearly triple the national rate for England that same week. Getty Images

An ambulance is parked outside the main entrance of Hull Royal Infirmary. Getty Images

General view of Hull Royal Infirmary. Getty Images

A man wearing a face shield walks through Hull city centre. Getty Images

A woman pushes a child past a Covid-19 information sign in Hull city centre. Getty Images

A couple wearing face masks walk through Hull city centre. Getty Images

A Covid 19 sign is displayed on an empty street in Hull. Getty Images

NHS information signs are displayed in Hull city centre. Getty Images

A man reacts as pigeons take flight around him in Hull city centre. Getty Images

The health chief in the worst pandemic hot spot in England is calling for the closure of schools as hospital beds near capacity.

The northern city of Hull, where social deprivation is common, has become the worst place in England for coronavirus cases, with infection rates reaching more than 800 per 100,000 people in some districts. The national average is below 200.

The chief executive of Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Chris Long, said stricter measures, such as school closures, were required.

“We need to be looking quite seriously at much stiffer lockdown restrictions than we have got,” he said. “We are seeing very high transmission rates around us and that’s because, despite the lockdown, a lot of people are just going about their normal lives.

“The actions that we take now are the ones that will prevent the spread and this means more restrictions.”

At the weekend, one local hospital said it was treating 180 Covid-19 cases.

In the area of Bransholme, home to the largest social housing estate in Europe, figures reached 808 cases per 100,000 people.

East Hull MP Karl Turner told The National that if schools closed youngsters in the most deprived areas who do not have access to the internet will lose out.

“Local leaders and school staff have performed miracles to continue teaching in schools, which are the best place for the children ... especially those who are already disadvantaged or vulnerable,” he said.

“But with extremely high and rising infection rates, there needs to be flexibility as schools may be forced to close by default.

“A flexible approach is supported by our local director of public health and others who are best placed to balance the urgent need to control the virus with the need to provide for our children,” Mr Turner said.

“Such flexibility requires support from government, including provision for those children without computer or internet access. We must do everything to prevent any child falling further behind.”

Prior to the national lockdown, Hull was in one of the lowest coronavirus lockdown tiers.

Its elevation to having the worst rate of infection in England will now raise questions over the government’s traffic light strategy, which placed areas into different tiers of restrictions depending on the relative number of cases.

Many Covid-19 deaths are linked to obesity and Hull has long been classed as one of the most obese cities in the UK.

In August, a report by the National Child Measurement Programme revealed 45 per cent of all youngsters in one of the city’s poorest areas were overweight.

Experts say the risk of death from coronavirus increases by 48 per cent among the obese.

England’s former chief medical officer, Prof Dame Sally Davies, said on Sunday that thousands of lives could have been saved if the government had tackled the obesity crisis.

"There is a direct correlation between obesity and a high mortality for Covid, and I'm highlighting that, as a nation, one of the reasons we have a problem with our weight ... is because of our structural environment to which advertising, portion size and many other things come into play," she told The Sunday Times.

In the first two weeks of November, 50 people died in hospitals in Hull.

Staff are now being drafted in from other departments to cope with demand.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday it was still too early to determine whether national lockdown measures in England would end after December 2.

It is expected that when the lockdown is lifted, Hull will be one of the areas to continue to face strict measures.