THE new lockdown restrictions are a "lifeline" for the community, the city hospital's chief has said, as the region looked close to a Covid-19 breaking point.

Now Dr Derek Sandeman, chief medical officer at University Hospital Southampton, has urged the public to adhere to the newly-imposed lockdown restrictions, or face our healthcare services becoming overwhelmed.

The hospital says that recent forecasts put the region at being just a few weeks away from having rates of spread matching the northern parts of the country.

But, in welcoming the new national restrictions, Dr Sandeman warns that unless the public take heed of the latest research into how Covid-19 spreads, the community will be in danger of merely holding-off the inevitable.

He says: "We have learnt a lot about how Covid spreads. This new information makes sense of why we’re seeing the recent local increases. It’s also key to understanding what changes we can make to stop our region and healthcare services becoming overwhelmed this winter and ensure we keep vital services going and the hospital safe for patients who need our care.

“We need to avoid lockdown becoming nothing more than an exercise in kicking the can down the road. If we act now, rather than potentially just pressing pause, we can reset and gain back control of Covid."

“Compared with other parts of the country, the timing of this lockdown is in many ways a lifeline for our community. Whilst we’ve seen rates of infection rising rapidly, we have managed to remain relatively low in real-terms and a four week lockdown where we all play our part, should enable us to half our infection rate. This will put us in a position where we will enable the hospital and wider healthcare service to manage admissions and continue the treatment and care for those who will inevitably need our help over winter.”

He added: “It is only us all as individuals who can change the course. Rising infection rates are not a foregone conclusion, it can be stopped in its tracks if we use the introduction of the lockdown to take the right course of action. My hope is that with better knowledge, people will be better armed to make the right choices to protect themselves and others. If we can get through winter there’s a strong chance of a vaccine in Spring and with that we will be able to put the pandemic behind us. The task now is simply to control it and to keep our communities as safe and accessible as possible in the run up to the festive season.”