Coronavirus: Leicester ‘could be locked down’ says home secretary

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The city of Leicester may be facing a localised lockdown after a rise in coronavirus cases, Home Secretary Priti Patel has confirmed.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, she said it was “correct” that the government was considering the move, reported in The Sunday Times.

About 25% of Leicester’s 2,494 confirmed Covid-19 cases were reported in the two weeks before 16 June.

Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said there was “no immediate prospect” of a lockdown.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast before Ms Patel was interviewed, he said data from testing was still being analysed.

Asked about restrictions, he said: “I don’t think that is an immediate prospect.

• Coronavirus: What could local lockdowns look like in England?

“After many weeks of asking, we now have that data and we are analysing it over this weekend, and hopefully early next week we will know whether we have a problem and if we have, where it is.”

However, Ms Patel said she had spoken to Health Secretary Matt Hancock about a possible local lockdown, and said “extra support” would be going into the area.

“With local flare-ups, it is right we have a local solution”, she said.

Leicester City Council’s public health director said on 16 June the new cases – 658 – were “relatively small” but of concern.

‘Perfect storm’

Local health experts confirmed they were involved in planning next steps in tackling the virus, with attention focussed on the North Evington area.

Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe has called for a lockdown due to a “perfect storm” of poverty, positive tests and higher ethnic diversity.

She said: “I don’t know why they’re not enforcing a lockdown – the evidence suggests there should be one.”

Analysis: Tony Roe, BBC East Midlands political correspondent

Just over a week ago, Health Secretary Matt Hancock revealed what he called an “outbreak” of Covid-19 In Leicester. In the first fortnight of June, 658 people had tested positive. With 2,500 cases in the city since March it’s certainly a worrying statistical spike.

North Evington was identified as an area of the city with a surge in cases. It’s a community of tightly-packed terraces mixed in with old industrial buildings and places of worship for many faiths. It’s a good representation of Leicester’s as a multicultural city.

A mobile centre has this week been up and running in Spinney Hill Park so people can now walk to get a test. But the council says it needs the data from positive tests quickly if it is to react.

It says it didn’t get the data from the first fortnight of June until Thursday, so only this weekend has it been able to plot where the Covid-19 cases are.

The data also doesn’t give an ethnicity breakdown which the city mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, says would be vital in helping understand which parts of the community are being affected by the virus. He’s asked the Health Secretary to give them that data.

It will know soon if it needs a localised lockdown to isolate the virus. It’s all about the data… who has the coronavirus and who has been at risk of catching it.

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