Leicester mayor says local lockdown is no longer justified ahead of government review

The Health Secretary has indicated that a lockdown in Leicester may have to remain in place, despite the city's mayor arguing that the measures are no longer necessary.

From last month, only essential travel to and from Leicester has been allowed, with most shops remaining shut after it became the first city in Britain to have restrictions reimposed because of a spike in coronavirus cases.

But there have been mounting calls for the Government to release areas such as Birstall and Glenfield from the restrictions, as Leicester's Labour mayor Sir Peter Soulsby revealed that only 10% of the city's neighbourhoods “have a higher transmission” of the virus.

However, speaking in the House of Commons, Matt Hancock suggested the number of cases in Leicester may still be too high to lift the city-wide lockdown.

The Government is analysing “14 days of data” on Covid-19 cases and will make an announcement on Thursday about whether the measures will be eased.

Mr Hancock said: “We will look at that on Thursday of this week and make a public announcement as soon as is reasonably possible about whether and if any changes can be made to the situation in Leicester.

“Thankfully the numbers have been coming down in Leicester, we have put in that extra testing but the number of positive cases in Leicester is still well above the rest of the country. I won't pre-judge the decision that we will take on Thursday and we will take into account all of the data.”

His comments come after Sir Peter suggested that Government data should have been shared much earlier with local officials so the council could have introduced preventative measures in high risk areas.

He has now said the lockdown in its “entirety” is no longer “justified”.

It is understood that Mr Hancock is likely to announce closer monitoring of the performance and decisions of the council amid criticism of its response to the spike in local Covid-19 cases last month.

To curb the spread of the infection, door-to-door testing is being rolled out in the worst affected areas of the city to test everyone in a given area, whether they have symptoms or not.

Delivery of home testing kits is also being trialled, together with portable walk-in centres which are being placed within outbreak zones.

Some of the outbreaks are so localised that they involve a single postcode, which on average covers 15 properties, while others, such as the one at a Herefordshire farm where 73 staff members tested positive for Covid-19, are far more widespread.