Over the past few months, we have become used to being told that coronavirus infection rates in Ipswich are “lower than many parts of the country”.

It’s possible that this has bred a certain amount of complacency and a feeling that we don’t really need to worry about the virus much. Perhaps there was too much focus on the “lower” part and not on the fact that was just in comparison to areas of the UK with much higher infection rates.

We need to shake off that complacency now. The latest testing information shows a large rise in positive coronavirus cases in Ipswich. In some parts of Ipswich, there are currently more than 150 per 100,000 people who have tested positive for Coronavirus and the overall rate for the Borough is over 100 cases per 100,000 people.

This is not the result of a single large outbreak at a school, workplace or care home as we’ve seen elsewhere.  This is a general community spread in Ipswich with evidence that many cases involve household transmission from people who are visiting friends and family.

We must all act now to reduce the spread of the virus, or more people will become ill and the NHS risks becoming overwhelmed.

The Government has said that England will go back to a tiered system in December. Ipswich was previously in the lowest tier, with the fewest restrictions. It is not inevitable that we will go back there if Ipswich’s infection rate is still too high at the end of this lockdown.

Being put into a higher tier will cause enormous damage to local businesses.

So, we need a major effort from everyone to get our infection rate down before December.

The advice to remember “Hands, Face and Space” is still important but, in particular, we all need to follow the new regulations:

• Stay at home as much as possible. Do not leave your home except for the specific reasons in the regulations.
• Work from home if you can.
• Avoid unnecessary journeys
• Reduce the number of people you come into contact with.

We can beat coronavirus if we all pull together now.