Cheshire West and Chester Council has urged any residents who are yet to get their Covid-19 vaccine ahead of the full lifting of lockdown restrictions on July 19.

Speaking at a Covid-19 Outbreak Board meeting yesterday (Wednesday), Council Chief Executive, Andrew Lewis, said: "We are in a rising tide of infections, and it's rising at least as fast as it has done at any other stage.

"The big difference is that, because of the vaccination programme, the infections we are seeing are concentrated in younger age groups, and so we are not seeing a big rise in hospitalisations or Covid deaths.

"But we can't be complacent about that because as the rate of infection rises, there is a risk to those who have not been fully vaccinated yet.

"We have to be prepared for a continued increase in the number of infections [beyond July 19], and that will translate – albeit to a smaller degree than has happened in previous waves – into more people being in hospital with Covid-19."

Council leaders therefore stressed the importance of getting fully vaccinated against the virus, in order to help control the number of hospital admissions.

Around 50,000 Cheshire West over-18s have not yet had their first dose of the vaccine, with 100,000 waiting for their second dose.

Clare Watson, accountable officer for Cheshire's NHS Clinical Commissioning Group, the body in charge of the vaccination rollout, added that, if all existing vaccine supplies are used up, 93 per cent of the county's adult population should be inoculated by 19 July.

Luckily, the Frodsham and Helsby areas have one of the highest vaccine uptakes of all of Cheshire West, but if you are yet to get yours, you can find details of pop-up and bookable vaccine clinics on the Cheshire CCG website.

Cheshire West and Chester's rolling Covid infection rate is currently 284 per 100,000 people, with the highest number of cases occurring within the 10-19 and 20-29 age brackets.

Case numbers are currently at Boxing Day levels, although hospitalisations are not rising at the same rate.