Lincolnshire is having a “bleak midwinter” as the coronavirus death toll soared, local health bosses said.
Over the past seven days, 94 of Lincolnshire’s 651 deaths – nearly 15% – have mentioned COVID-19 on the death certificate.
At the end of November the county’s average weekly deaths had risen by nearly 60% on the previous year — from 175 to 275.
The figures are part of a Christmas Carol style warning, with Lincolnshire County Council’s director of public health professor Derek Ward playing all three ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future: “behave over the festive period or face the consequences”.
Professor Ward said: “I’m sorry, I am the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and it is not a fun role, but it is my job to look after the people of Lincolnshire.