'No plans' to bring back mandatory face masks as Covid cases creep up

ONE ENGLISH HOSPITAL TRUST HAS REINTRODUCED MEASURES

- By EDDIE BISKNELL

Staff wearing masks at the QMC in 2021

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE'S main hospital trusts say they currently have no plans to bring back mandatory face masks, even though Covid-19 numbers are rising nationally.

Recent figures from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows Covid-19 numbers creeping up. Weekly cases rose from 2,012 to 2,459 in the week before September 24 - a 22 per cent increase - and the latest figures for the week before October 1 stand at 3,049 cases, which is a 19 per cent rise.

Covid hospitalisations are also up, with 2,077 patients in hospital in the seven days before September 30 - a 9.7 per cent increase on the week prior.

More notably, hospital admission rate for the virus was up 60 per cent in the week starting September 15 at 2.73 per 100,000 people compared to 1.71 per 100,000 in the week starting August 18.