A MASSIVE campaign is calling on the North East to stick to coronavirus rules.

Housed online at BeatCovidNE.co.uk, the key message is one of thanks to the region’s people and of urgency to keep going in their efforts to follow the rules.

Billboard posters thanking people for sticking to the rules will be put up throughout the region, alongside a campaign of radio and TV adverts.

It is backed by seven councils and supported by Northumbria and County Durham Local Resilience Forums which includes councils, third sector, NHS, emergency services and public transport bodies.

With infection rates falling across the region and the majority of people adhering to public health and Government guidance, the campaign thanks residents for all that they have done to support communities and urges them to keep going.

Local people were consulted as part of the process and contributed to the development of the campaign.

Andrew Beeby, medical director at Gateshead’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, thanked the region for its efforts in bringing down the infection rate but said there is still work to be done.

Despite the national lockdown lifting last Wednesday and Britain’s medicines regulator, the MHRA, approving the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, people are being urged not to throw away all the good work by being complacent in the run-up to and during Christmas.

He said: “It’s an opportunity to thank the public for all they are doing to keep the rates as low as they can be.

“What we’re seeing in Gateshead is the rates going right down and that’s a reflection on what the public is doing to keep everybody safe.

“The message is about continuing to do that particularly over Christmas – don’t let your guard down, to help keep everybody safe.

“This is a dangerous virus, it does kill people. It’s much worse than flu, don’t underestimate it. The end is in sight – keep going.”

It was paid for by Government money awarded to the LA7 when they asked for tougher coronavirus restrictions in September.

It was launched following research commissioned by the authorities.

It revealed how people across the region feel about Covid-19 and local restrictions – with over half admitting that while they want to follow the rules, they “find it hard” to stick to social distancing guidelines.

It asked 500 residents from County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland how they feel about the current situation and what the impact is on their lives in the week that the region entered Tier 3.

The study found that 71 per cent of North East residents are “very worried” about the UK-wide coronavirus situation.

Meanwhile, over half of residents say they want to stick with social distancing guidelines but find it hard to, and one in three said they find it difficult to keep to household mixing rules.

Over a quarter of residents forget to follow social distancing rules, with 15 per cent admitting to deliberately bending the rules.

The overriding emotion felt by residents is “frustration”, with 50 per cent feeling this way.

Amanda Healey, Durham’s director of public health, said: “We really wanted to understand how local people were feeling, which is why we did the research to understand why people were finding it hard and what would motivate people to keep going.

“We know how hard it has been for people, which is why there was a ‘thank you’ in there.

“It’s fantastic news to have a vaccine, and it’s even more important at this point to keep going with the things we know that will  make a difference.

“Let’s keep going until the vaccine is fully rolled out.”

The importance of sticking to the rules was driven home by Susie Chrystal, a critical care nurse.

She said: “For some people Covid-19 means being really unwell, that is what we have seen a lot of in the hospital.

“We have seen a lot of suffering. Patients in intensive care have said they wish the general public could see what we have seen, staff working for 13 hours wearing really uncomfortable PPE, people being really unwell.

“I have seen the sickest patients I have seen in my whole career, people on the maximum amount of oxygen we can give them.

“This [the campaign] isn’t just for us, but for all of Gateshead, we don’t want people to get sick.”