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Luton and Blackburn marked as 'areas of intervention' after a rise in coronavirus cases

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Getty Images

Two towns in the UK have been marked as "areas of intervention" by Public Health England after a rise in coronavirus cases.

Luton and Blackburn and Darwen have joined Leicester, which was subject to the UK's first local lockdown, at the top of Public Health England's Covid-19 watchlist.

The Government classes an "area of intervention" as a location where there is divergence from the measures in place in the rest of England. This is because of the "significance of the spread" of the virus in the area, with a detailed action plan needed and local resources "augmented with national support".

Other areas on the watchlist for the period between July 13 and 19 were: Oadby and Wigston, Pendle, Bradford, Rochdale, Kirklees, Peterborough, Wakefield, Northampton, Calderdale and Rotherham.

In Blackburn with Darwen, the rate has jumped from 49.7 to 81.9 cases per 100,000 with 122 new cases recorded.

In Leicester, where the rate has gone down from 102.5 to 65.6 per 100,000, 233 new cases have been recorded.

Several areas saw increases (AFP via Getty Images)
Several areas saw increases (AFP via Getty Images)

Other areas reporting notable week-on-week jumps include Oadby and Wigston (up from 38.6 to 59.6, with 34 new cases), Rochdale (up from 30.9 to 49.1, with 108 new cases), Hyndburn (up from 6.2 to 44.5, with 36 new cases) and Sandwell (up from 12.2 to 26.3, with 86 new cases).

The number of new coronavirus cases for every local authority in England has been published based on PHE figures updated on July 23.

The data comes from tests carried out in laboratories (pillar one of the Government’s testing programme) and in the wider community (pillar two) in the seven days leading up to July 20.

The leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council said it was “sensible not to relax” lockdown restrictions after the area was made an "area of intervention”.

Councillor Mohammed Khan said: “We are very grateful to our communities for working with us. The increase in testing is helping to ensure that we are heading in the right direction with a reduction in positive cases and hospital admissions.

“We need to keep up the momentum with our strong prevention work so we agree it’s sensible not to relax the easing of restrictions at the moment to stop the spread.

“We have already decided to delay the opening of our council leisure facilities along with introducing other localised prevention measures. We feel that accelerating our control measures in this way will assist us to move out of having higher Covid rates even faster – we are grateful for the Government’s help in our local plans on this.”

Results from July 21-23 have been excluded as it is incomplete and likely to be revised.

Meanwhile NHS Test and Trace chief Baroness Harding said Leicester was not “completely out of the woods” after a local lockdown was imposed due to a coronavirus outbreak.

Speaking to the BBC she said: "One of the challenges with Covid is that it takes 14 days from the time we have taken action to be really confident that that action is making a difference.

"The encouraging sign in Leicester is that the infection rate is starting to go down but it’s still very high. I don’t think that Leicester is completely out of the woods yet and it’s really important that anyone living in Leicester comes forward for a test – if they are in any doubt they should come forward for a test."

She also shared concerns around Blackburn and Bradford.

"Other towns and cities on our areas of concern, or areas that are receiving enhanced support, would be places like Blackburn, also Bradford – who we saw increase but have now come down from being in our ‘enhanced support’ category to being in our ‘area of concern’ category."

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