The latest infection rate figures as Chesterfield hospital sees first Covid-19 death since July

Although lower than surrounding areas, positive cases of Covid-19 are rising daily across Chesterfield and Derbyshire.

The figures taken in the week up to September 24 show that the area of Chesterfield and north Derbyshire with the most new cases of coronavirus was in Tibshelf, Newton and Hardwick Park, where there were 14.

The infection rate across Chesterfield actually dropped over the weekend and is expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people.

There was an infection rate of 20 on Friday, September 25, dropping to 19.1 on Saturday, September 26.

The infection rate dropped even further to 17.2 on Sunday, September 27.

The number of weekly cases in Chesterfield from the week up to September 25 was up from the previous week, and the reproduction rate is now well above 1.

According to a university study, Chesterfield now has a 27 per cent chance of becoming a coronavirus hotspot.

A hotspot is an area that has more than 50 cases per 100,000 people regularly, a figure that Chesterfield is currently shy of.

Dean Wallace, director of public health for Derbyshire County Council, said: “If over the next few weeks people follow the guidance and we can trace the contacts, we can stop local restrictions from happening, because we did it before.

“We have still got time to turn this around. It is the local effort and response that is required.

"If people respond to our calls for testing and respond to our contact tracing calls we can avoid a lockdown.

“Local people, boots on the ground, posting leaflets and talking to people, people calling from local phone numbers and email addresses makes a world of difference.”

A Chesterfield Royal Hospital spokesperson said: “These are still relatively small numbers here compared with the April height when we had 80 patients in at one stage across three Covid-19 wards and the intensive treatment unit.

“Like the rest of the NHS, we remain on a national incident alert and have operational plans in place to manage ‘normal’ winter admissions and any potential rise in Covid-19.”