Covid-19: Northamptonshire major incident at an end

The major incident was declared across Northamptonshire on 7 January

A major incident declared in a county due to the pressure on services caused by Covid-19 has been declared over.

Northamptonshire's Local Resilience Forum (LRF) said the status had been stood down as staff absences across emergency services and health care systems had decreased.

The LRF said the current situation was "unlikely to deteriorate in the near future".

But LRF chairman Darren Dovey said "the situation remains serious".

Local Resilience Forum chairman Darren Dovey said the situation in the country remained serious

The major incident was declared on 7 January in an attempt to plan for sustained pressure on staffing levels in the wake of the Omicron variant.

It allowed organisations, including the NHS, police, fire service and councils, to work together to help co-ordinate essential services.

It came at a point when about one in 10 staff across all organisations were absent from work.

Anna Earnshaw, West Northamptonshire Council chief executive, said: "I am pleased to say that Northamptonshire's system leaders have agreed to stand down the system-wide major incident.

"However, it remains the case that the hospitals are busy with COVID-19 patients and the council is still under significant pressure in adult social care and health with staff absences."

A group would meet on a fortnightly basis to "maintain a watching brief over the situation", the LRF said.