Local lockdown restrictions are “not working”, confusing and even “counter-productive”, leaders of northern cities have warned as the rate of coronavirus cases almost doubled in a week.
Leaders in Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds warned Health Secretary Matt Hancock that they would not support further “economic lockdowns” and called for new powers to tackle the resurgence.
The leaders of Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle city councils – Judith Blake, Sir Richard Leese and Nick Forbes – joined Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson to write to the Health Secretary to say they are “extremely concerned” with the rise in cases.
“The existing restrictions are not working, confusing for the public and some, like the 10pm rule, are counter-productive,” the Labour politicians wrote.
They called for additional powers to punish those who break rules, for new restrictions to be developed by police, council and public health experts and for a locally-controlled test and trace system.
“We want to be clear however that we do not support further economic lockdowns,” the leaders added.
Figures have shown a steep rises in coronavirus cases.
When it comes to daily figures, as of 9am on Tuesday, there were 14,542 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
These have trebled in a fortnight – on September 22, there were 4,926 cases recorded.
The Government said a further 76 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday.
More than 58,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have now been registered in the UK.
