Wiltshire’s public health boss says that Tier 2 is the right place for the county to be.

Before being put into Tier 2 the numbers of cases in Wiltshire were rising which proved a concern, said director of public health in Wiltshire, Kate Blackburn.

“It’s no surprise we were put into Tier 2,” she said. “Even though our cases are starting to reduce, Tier 2 will provide an opportunity to get those cases down further.

“I was asked last week if I thought we were put in the right tier. I absolutely do.

“I absolutely feel Tier 2 is where we need to be in order to keep getting case rates down.”

Mrs Blackburn added that she was not confident the restrictions in Tier 1 would help keep case rates low.

“I would want our case rate to be pretty much zero if we were to go into Tier 1 if I’m honest but those are set nationally.”

The Swindon and Wiltshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership reported an increase in the number of hospital admissions seen across the county. Which Mrs Blackburn says is another reason that Wiltshire will benefit from its current category.

However, she did sympathise with families over the restrictions.

“I do know how tough it is for people not to see as many friends and family.

“We’re all people. We’re all humans and we all know how that feels.”

She added that as we head towards Christmas that it is vital residents continue to follow the rules.

Mrs Blackburn confirmed that there have been 5,034 positive Covid cases in Wiltshire since the pandemic began and 397 in the last seven days.

This represents a significant reduction in the number of positive cases in the county from last week.

The infection rate in Wiltshire now stands at 79.4 – while last week it was 137 – far lower than the England average of 167.8.

Mrs Blackburn said: “I’m hoping that case rate will continue to go down because the data is a few days behind what we’re actually seeing. I’m very hopeful that will continue to go down.”

Since last week there have been five registered deaths in Wiltshire with Covid-19 on the death certificate. The mortality rate in Wiltshire now stands at 76 per 100,000 people where the national rate is 101.