THE county's public health chief has issued a plea to the public guidelines to help prevent a new peak of coronavirus cases in every area of the county, including Maldon.

The new comes after the latest figures released yesterday (Sunday, 7 September) show that while confirmed Covid-19 cases within the Maldon district remain low, other areas of the county are showing a worrying spike in infections – including those where cases had remained low until the past two weeks.

Over the past two weeks around 225 cases of coronavirus in the Essex County Council area have been confirmed. This does not include infections confirmed in Southend and Thurrock.

And while there has been just one confirmed case in the past seven days in the Maldon district, there have been 19 new cases in Basildon, 18 each for Castle Point and Epping and 12 in Uttlesford.

Essex County Council's Director of Public Health, Dr Mike Gogarty said: "Over the last few weeks we have seen a rise in confirmed cases across the county. Obviously, this was expected but is still concerning. I would urge everyone to continue to be vigilant. Coronavirus has not gone away. It is extremely important to maintain social distancing guidelines, keeping at least two meters from others, and to maintain hand-washing. This is even more important now that schools have restarted.

"Key to stopping the spread is to ensure that if you have any symptoms, you must self-isolate, this is crucial. You must also get tested as soon as possible, and isolate until you know the result.

"We know that nationally, only 30% of people showing symptoms are requesting a test. People should not be put off of requesting a test if they have symptoms and are encouraged to do so as soon as possible. Unless people isolate and get tested we will see a strong resurgence of the virus and will be back in lockdown"

County council cabinet member for health, Councillor John Spence, said: " We appreciate the sacrifices everyone has made to date. We know this has been a very difficult time, but we still all have work to do.

"We need to continue to protect ourselves, and others by adhering to the guidance so that the sacrifices everyone has made are not in vain."