AS the spread of Covid-19 continues to rise in Thurrock, neighbouring boroughs are now calling for more help from the government and London mayor Sadiq Khan has declared a "major incident".

He acted today (Friday, 8 January) after the coronavirus infection rate inside Greater London's boundary exceeded 1,000 per 100,000 people.

In Thurrock, latest figures show it is at 1,494!

The borough is among the worst affected places in the country and with Covid-19 hospital admissions rising at the nearest hospital, Basildon &Thurrock Hospital, there appears little opportunity of any help from London hospitals which have now reported more than 7,000 people in hospital with Covid-19, the mayor said.

A major incident is defined as an event or situation with a range of serious consequences which requires special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency responder agency.

Mr Khan's actions mirror those of the Essex Resilience Forum - a partnership of health services, police and councils including Thurrock Borough Council - which declared its 'major incident' status eight days ago.

Mr Khan warned that London was "at crisis point".

In Thurrock, where the major incident call pre-empted Tuesday's full national lockdown, local council leader Cllr Rob Gledhill has sent a message to borough residents, calling on them to take preventative action rather than make the crisis worse.

He said: "Our local community in Thurrock must dig deep and make sure that we are all playing our part to stop the spread of this new, highly infectious strain of the virus. You must keep two metres apart from those you do not live with at all times, whether this is while walking your dog in the park or queuing at a till in the supermarket. The COVID-19 virus is transmitted through water droplets and the only way to avoid breathing them in is to be out of their reach, which science currently tells us is two metres - any less just won't work.

"It is no exaggeration to say that if you do not adhere to the rules and halt the spread of the virus, you will be directly responsible for cases of COVID-19 continuing to rise.

"The best way to get out of the current restrictions is to buckle down for the next few weeks to ensure those who are most vulnerable can keep safe until they are vaccinated."

Latest confirmed figures show there have been 12,530 confirmed cases in Thurrock up to 7 January and 241 deaths have been confirmed as Covio-19 related.