A HEALTH boss has warned “the dam is overflowing” as Covid cases begin to surge in south Essex.

Southend’s director of public health Krishna Ramkhelawon says the Government needs to 'think think about it's next steps' as NHS bosses called for a return of enforced face masks and working from home to stem the exponential growth of the virus.

In Southend and Basildon rates of infection have spiked sharply in the last seven days; 659 and 736 new cases were confirmed in the respective boroughs between October 9 and 15 – the latest available data.

Southend’s infection rate has jumped to 360.6 – expressed as the number of new cases per 100,000 people – from 291.6 the week prior while in Basildon, it now stands at 392.4, up from 274.

Thurrock and castle Point both have infection rates above 400, while the rate in Rochford has skyrocketed above the 500 mark – a rough point where, last year, the Government introduced tier three restrictions.

“We have expected the surge, primarily because the Government has made a choice to lift restrictions. That’s the national policy decision, that we knew was going to have a consequence moving into the colder season,” said Mr Ramkhelawon.

“The dam is overflowing now and we’re going to have to think about the next steps going forward. In Southend, our rate is being driven by those aged 11 – 18 years, in the last seven days alone the infection rate in that age group jumped from 850 to just under 1,100.”

He added: “We are working closely with head teachers to address this, but the containment framework for school outbreaks decided by the Department for Education is very restrictive to our approach and that is not helping us put further preventative measures in place.”

Currently, pupils identified as close contacts of a positive Covid case do not need to self-isolate automatically and must only do so if they display symptoms or return a positive PCR test.

Essex County Council says it expects the pattern of growing rates in school children to increase, until a larger percentage have been vaccinated.

As of October 16, 21.3 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds in Southend had received their first jab, across Essex that number stood at 19.5 per cent.

Mr Ramkhelawon’s comments came in the wake of a senior NHS member calling for the Government drastically change it approach to the pandemic in the coming months.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation which represents health bodies, warned the country risked “stumbling into a winter crisis” unless measures such as face masks, enforced working from home and vaccine passports – the Government’s “Plan B” for the coming months – are introduced.

Currently, Plan A is in place, which focuses on following through with the vaccine programme, while also carrying out a booster jab campaign.

Mr Taylor added the NHS is preparing for what could be “the most challenging winter on record”.