A HEALTH chief is urging people to take a Covid test before attending Christmas events in Crewe and surrounding towns.

Positive cases of Covid-19 are still very high in the borough - the latest figures show they have risen to 417 per 100,000 people - and Cheshire East Council is advising residents to not let their guard down.

The council's director of public health, Dr Matt Tyrer, is advising residents to wear masks in crowded and, particularly, in busy indoor places, wash hands regularly and to keep a safe distance from other people.

But he also wants people to take lateral flow tests before attending events or moving into high-risk places.

"It takes minutes, and if unfortunately, your result does come back positive or you are displaying symptoms, you will be doing the right thing by immediately self-isolating until you get the result of a confirmatory PCR test," said Dr Tyrer.

"Together, it's in our hands and we can all continue to look after each other this Christmas by staying safe."

The health chief is concerned about the potential for events like lights switch-ons and Christmas markets to become super spreaders of the virus - although in Crewe the traditional festive lights switch-on has been dropped in favour of an event to minimise large gatherings.

Lumen Lite, an arts trail featuring light installations, is being launched on Friday to coincide with the town centre lights being switched on with an online video being released in advance[

Today (Tuesday) there were 232 positive cases reported in Cheshire East and 1,617 in the last week, a rise of four per cent on the previous seven days. There were two deaths recorded in the borough today due to Covid and 14 in the last week.

The infection rate in Cheshire East dropped to 375 per 100,000 people on November 7, but had risen again (417) by November 18.

• Crewe Alex fans travelling to Ipswich for Sunday's (November 28) League One fixture will need to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test or proof they have double vaccination to gain admission at Portman Road (16/17-year-old's who are classed as vulnerable only require one vaccine to be classed as fully vaccinated).

If you want to get a quick Covid test then Cheshire East's mobile Swab Squad is at the Alexandra Suite at Crewe Alex tomorrow, Thursday and Friday from 9am to 4pm.