Norfolk’s chief constable has called on people to stick to Government advice ahead of an inevitable extension to lockdown and the frustration this may bring.

Speaking in a video posted on social media, Simon Bailey, Norfolk’s chief constable, has asked people to stick to social distancing advice and not be tempted to ignore lockdown as summer approaches.

Acknowledging the difficulties created by the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr Bailey said: “I don’t underestimate just how hard this is for everyone both professionally and privately.

“From my own personal perspective I have a mother who is in the highest risk category of people. I have a niece, a sister in the National Health Service and of course I’m leading an organisation that is on the front line of doing our best to protect everybody.”

He said the pandemic was impacting everyone but said it was still vital to follow the government’s advice in order to see an end to the crisis and to “save lives and protect the NHS”.

“As the weather gets nicer and we head towards the summer and inevitably an extension of the lockdown frustrations will start to mount, concerns will start to mount and there will be a real question mark about how much more can we all take of this?

“My response to that, is if we adhere to the government’s advice about lockdown and we only make essential journeys and essential travel, we only take one form of exercise a day, we will see an end to the crisis sooner than we would if we were to ignore those rules and that advice.

“So please, I know just how difficult this is, I know the challenges we’re all facing but if we adhere to the guidelines and we maintain that stance for however much longer it might be, we will see an end to this crisis soon rather than later. “So stay safe, understand why we’re doing this, it is to save lives and protect the NHS and if we maintain that stance then hopefully we will see and end to the virus as I said, sooner rather than later.”