This is the latest on coronavirus at Chesterfield Royal Hospital

At around 1pm on Monday, there were 29 patients with the virus at the Royal – seven of whom were in critical care.

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At one point around a month ago, staff were looking after some 120 patients with Covid-19

In total, the trust has recorded 417 deaths linked to coronavirus, and condolences have been paid to their loved ones.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital spokesperson Simon Towers told the Derbyshire Times: “The number of positive cases of Covid-19 has continued to fall at the trust which is a very pleasing trend and reflects the national picture.

“However, we are still at the very start of national efforts to gradually exit lockdown and we still have a number of people in our care who are critically ill with Covid-19.

“Now is not the time to stop doing the things that have got us to this point, so we would urge everyone to continue to follow the very latest Government guidelines and safety measures to protect our services and carry on driving down those numbers.”

Dean Wallace, Derbyshire County Council’s director of public health, said: “Following Government rules and guidelines is making a real difference and it’s so important we all carry on doing all we can.

“That means abiding by the national lockdown and following the basics that we are more than familiar with now – hands, face, space."

He also urged people to go and get tested at the community testing centres now open around the county.

Millions of children in England returned to school on Monday after more than two months studying at home.

It marks the first stage of the roadmap out of the third national lockdown, which has been in place since the start of January.

Latest figures from NHS England reveal that 346,001 Derbyshire residents had received their first Covid-19 vaccine doses as of February 28.

Analysis by the Local Democracy Reporting Service shows that Derbyshire has vaccinated 41.15 per cent of all residents aged 16 and over and 95.15 per cent of all residents aged 65 and above.

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