A HOSPITAL boss has urged the public to not let the optimism of the vaccine roll-out lead to complacency at what is a pivotal moment in the fight against coronavirus.

Colchester Hospital is currently treating 230 Covid-19 patients and 23 in the intensive care unit, which is double the number the facility is used to accommodating at this time of year.

Both the number of coronavirus and intensive care unit patients now at the hospital is also more than double what it was a month ago.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of the East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital, believes the devastating health war is far from over.

He said: “We are full to capacity at the moment in ICU and it has very much been one in one out for many weeks.

“We are seeing a slight plateauing of coronavirus admissions but that is not a trend or indicative of what could still happen.

“And there is a difference between an empty bed and available bed.

“I am not convinced we are over the worst of it and we are definitely not out of the woods just yet.”

Gazette:

As of January 28, more than 750,000 people living within the East of England had received at least their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Despite this, Mr Hulme has warned the public against getting complacent and stressed the importance of continuing to take the threat of Covid-19 seriously.

He added: “It is really important we all double down our efforts around this new lockdown.

“We have suffered and sacrificed so much to get here so it would be a tragedy beyond reason if we were to stop trying now and lose all the benefit of what we have done so far.

“Lockdown is miserable and we hate it, but we have to do it and follow the rules for the sake of the community and to save lives.

“The danger of being too optimistic is that people may not realise how bad this pandemic still is.

“The worst thing would be to get too optimistic and then lose all the ground we have gained.”

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Since the start of the outbreak 944 people have died at the trust which runs Colchester Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, according to NHS England.

Mr Hulme has reiterated the majority of patients being treated for the virus at Colchester Hospital are either elderly or have an underlying health condition.

But he also says the new and more transmissible variant of coronavirus is proving a problem for younger people.

“We are seeing a small but significant number of patients who are younger and can deteriorate very quickly and sadly die,” he added.

“The vast majority do survive, but you never know who will have their lives cut short, and that is devastating for families.

“So, why take the risk?”