Blackburn could be next for local lockdown restrictions following surge in coronavirus cases, health chief warns

Blackburn could see tighter lockdown restrictions imposed by the end of the month following a surge in coronavirus cases, it has been reported.

The town’s public health director said stronger measures would be enforced in two weeks if the number of cases did not fall, according to the BBC.

Mass testing was introduced over the weekend after 61 new cases sprang up within a week.

The latest Public Health England figures show Blackburn with Darwen has 41 new cases per 100,000 – up from 29.5.

In Leicester, the first city in the UK to be put under local lockdown, the rate has fallen slightly from 117.7 in the seven days to July 3 to 114.3 in the seven days to July 10.

Director of public health for Blackburn with Darwen, Professor Dominic Harrison, said there had been "cluster infections", particularly with "families in small terraced houses".

He told the BBC: "If the numbers aren't coming down within a two-week period, we will probably need to go into a reversal of some of the lockdown measures."

"One of the things we don't want to do is to get in a situation like Leicester where everything is open to where everything is shut," Prof Harrison added.

He also said "targeted work" would be carried out following a rise in infections within the South Asian community.

Prof Harrison said that when "one person gets infected in a multi-generational household, all the household members are getting infected".

Other areas reporting notable week-on-week jumps, according to the Government data, include Pendle where the rate of infection has gone up from 14.2 to 67.8.

This has been caused by a spike in new cases recorded on July 6 and 7.

Braintree has also jumped from 2.6 to 19.8, due to 18 new cases being recorded on July 8. And Peterborough has seen a rate rise from 13.4 to 29.8, with 60 new cases recorded in the seven days to July 10.

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