Penny Spring, Director of Public Health, North Lincolnshire, said:
“For almost two months now the community of North Lincolnshire has adhered to the national advice and guidance to stay home and save lives.
“These measures have come at a personal cost; we have all missed birthdays, anniversaries and other important family events as we have isolated to protect ourselves, our families and the communities in which we live.
“The commitment and dedication to this has been fantastic, the community response overwhelming. Across the whole county we have seen people looking after and watching out for each other.
“These efforts have saved lives and we must not lessen our resolve now. We must not undo this good work.
“New advice does lift some of the restrictions placed upon us but these are careful, tentative steps which we will be taking. This is a slow process of returning life to as near to normal as possible but the virus is still with us.
“The responsibility very much lies with each of us to control it – how we behave will have an impact on how well coronavirus is managed in our communities. We must be alert to the risk, we must protect ourselves and remember in doing so we are protecting the most vulnerable.
“The loosening of restrictions will hopefully continue through the coming weeks and months but in stages and only if we all act responsibly. If infections rise we may well find ourselves in a position where tighter controls on our movements are once again implemented.
“While people can sit in the sun in their local park, drive to other destinations, play sports with members of their own households this is conditional on us all to follow the advice, to observe social distancing, and to keep that infection rate down.
“People must stay at home as much as possible, work from home if they can, limit contact with other people, keep their distance if they go out and wash their hands regularly.
“We all must stay alert to control the virus so we can save lives.”
