Sunderland health chiefs say it is 'so far, so good' following latest lockdown easing

‘So far, so good’ is the verdict of Sunderland’s public health chief following the latest lockdown easing.

Gyms, pubs and non-essential shops were allowed to begin trading again on Monday (April 12), following months of restrictions imposed to halt the spread of COVID-19.

And despite some calls for caution ahead of the move, city bosses have so far been satisfied with the way businesses and the public have handled the newest set of rules.

“The opening up of all non-essential retail, personal care, libraries, community centres and outdoor activities was quite a significant change,” said Gerry Taylor, Sunderland City Council’s director of public health and integrated commissioning.

“We’ve done a lot of work with the local businesses to support them to be ready for reopening.

“I think so far so good, in terms of the reopening.

“We haven’t had a great deal of issues and problems so far, we’ve had some queuing at some non-essential retail, but I think that’s all been fairly well socially distanced.”

Taylor was speaking at yesterday’s (Wednesday, April 14) meeting of Sunderland City Council’s (SCC) Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

The first day of the relaxed pandemic rules was followed by good news for Wearside on its coronavirus infection figures.

According to the latest data, there were just 75 confirmed positive cases in the city over the seven days to April 11, the lowest since August (2020).

Daily data released on Wednesday, showed two people have died in Sunderland after testing positive for Covid-19 as another nine cases are confirmed in the city.

It comes amid concerns that ‘large numbers of patients’ in Sunderland could be delaying life-saving treatments due to Covid fears, NHS chiefs have warned.

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