Our resident GP Dr Wirin explains why Bolton must remain vigilant in the fight against Covid-19.

As every English football fan will know, a commentator once famously said: “They think it’s all over… it is now!”

To be sure, there are several reasons to be cheerful when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tens of thousands of people from all over Bolton have now received their first dose of one of the approved Covid-19 vaccines.

And the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just announced his road map concerning the gradual lifting of lockdown restrictions across England.

This will start with the re-opening of schools on March 8.

This is undoubtedly great news.

However, we must not be lulled into thinking ‘job done’.

Bolton has been under local or national restrictions for most of the last 11 months – and longer than most other places in the UK.

However, the borough’s infection rates are still among the highest in the country.

Covid-19 rates are not declining as much as they are falling in other areas of England.

Additionally, more young adults – people in their teens, 20s and 30s – are becoming seriously ill with the new and more transmissible variants of the virus.

A worrying number of hospital beds remain occupied by Covid patients.

Meanwhile, the virus is still claiming lives every day.

Many are suffering from lockdown fatigue.

But we must all ask ourselves if we are doing everything we can.

Are we still sticking to the rules?

Maintaining social distancing?

Washing our hands regularly and letting in fresh air?

Businesses also need to ensure they make their workplaces Covid-safe.

Staff should be supported in working from home wherever possible.

If we don’t keep up the pressure on coronavirus, the danger is that Bolton – and the country as a whole – will have to wait even longer before restrictions are lifted and we can return to normal.

We must not take our eye off the ball.

Otherwise extra time and suffering will be the penalties we face.

This is not over yet.