Residents are being urged to continue to be vigilant over Christmas and are reassured over the safety of a coronavirus vaccine.

Following the announcement that Dorset has been placed in Tier Two - with restrictions coming into force after lockdown lifts on December 2 - Sam Crowe, director of Public Health Dorset, Aiden Dunn, executive director of corporate development at Dorset Council, and Cllr Nichola Greene, portfolio holder for Covid resilience, public health and education at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP), held a live coronavirus update.

Sam Crowe explained that measures to determine which tier and area was in included case detection rates in all age groups, the impact in the care sector, the rate at which cases are rising or falling, positivity rates and pressure on the NHS - not just the number of cases.

He reported that the current infection rate in Dorset Council is 64 cases per 100,000 and 138 cases per 100,000 in the BCP area.

On Public Health Dorset's website, it reports that the seven days from November 18, Dorset had 263 confirmed coronavirus cases, compared to 420 the following week and the BCP had 588, compared to 947. It also stated 146 patients with Covid-19 were in hospital beds in Dorset during this week, compared to 137 the previous week.

The panel answered questions from residents, one of which was why was Dorset Council and the BCP area both in Tier Two when case rates differed?

Aiden Dunn said: "It's really important to understand that the case rate is not the only factor that the Government has considered when assigning areas to tiers. One of the really important factors is about local context and it's really important that we remind ourselves that there are large numbers of people that travel between the town council areas for things like work and education, so the two areas are very much linked."

He said that Tier One could be a possibility for the county when they are reviewed on December 16 if everyone plays their part.

Concerns were raised about how Dorset hospitals were coping and if there were plans to increase capacity if it was needed.

Mr Crowe said: "Our hospitals have seen an increase in Covid-19 patients.

"The NHS has been trying its best to catch up with all of that work, the non-Covid procedures that were delayed during the early part of the pandemic and they've done very well.

"As they've stood up those services and try to get people back into hospital for that essential care, that's obviously meant that we've had to go through quite a delicate balancing act to juggle that capacity.

"There are very careful plans being put together by the system but the understanding at the moment is there wouldn't be plans to stand up additional capacity such as Nightingale hospitals [in Dorset].

"Hospitals are under pressure; they have more patients affected by Covid-19 at the moment but we are doing our best as a system to shift our resources to deliver that extra capacity from within our system.

"The positive news is that our infection rates are falling.

"It's been about a 38 per cent drop in Covid cases over the past seven days."

Residents were also concerned about if the vaccine was safe and what was being done to prepare for the roll-out of a vaccine.

Mr Crowe added: "They should be here quite quickly but, in the background, NHS colleagues that have been leading on the delivery of the mass vaccination programme are working really hard to make sure the delivery model is ready for as soon as those vaccines are authorised and they start to hit Dorset, services are ready to go to make sure they can start to roll them out.

"Although the delivery of the vaccine and the development has been accelerated out of necessity, it's still the case that it has to go through very rigorous evaluation.

"We should trust in the process, it's exactly the same process used to license other pharmaceuticals, although its being sped up and accelerated, you should be confident that the same diligence will be shown when it comes to that data."

Questions surrounding how the Christmas bubble arrangements work were also asked.

Cllr Nichola Greene said: "Your Christmas bubble really does have to be exclusive; it can be made up of people from no more than three households and you can only be in one Christmas bubble and you can't change that bubble.

"You can continue to meet people who are not in your bubble outside your home, according to the rules of the tier you're staying in."

She also said that people could travel between tiers and the UK nations between December 23 and 27 for the purpose of meeting their Christmas bubble.

Another resident asked how people can celebrate Christmas safely when Covid is still circulating in our communities.

Mr Crowe added: "It's still very important to remember the basic messages around washing your hands, watching your space and covering your face in indoor public areas. Above all we need to trust people to have some sense over the Christmas period, don't bend the rules too much.

"If we're not careful over the holiday then it's likely that we may pay for it further down the road and I'm sure we don't want that."

The panel were asked if they expected the relaxation of rules over Christmas to cause an increase in cases, hospitalisations and deaths locally.

Mr Crowe said: "Let's hope not. I think that because of the relatively small window when were allowed to mix with our Christmas bubble, hopefully that limits the degree of social mixing in our population. But having said that, the virus is capable of being transmitted when we increase the level of social mixing.

"If we remember the basic health measures then, hopefully, we can limit that rise in cases and it's even more reason to keep following the basic measures over the holiday period."

Mr Dunn also highlighted the different financial support available to businesses affected by the lockdown - the local restrictions support grant and additional restrictions grant - details of which can be found at dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

Questions around how the new restrictions would be enforced were asked. There will be environmental health officers and trading standards officers, along with Covid marshals who will be supported by the police. Dorset Council is responsible for issues relating to antisocial behaviour and trading standards with Dorset Police responsible for enforcing the law and will take appropriate action where people are not complying with legislation.

Those who are critically extremely vulnerable are advised to limit their social interactions and support is available by calling 01305 221000.