Leicester ‘faces two more weeks of lockdown’

In order to get the coronavirus infections under control in the city of Leicester (UK), the mayor has suggested that lockdown should continue well past July 4.

THE city of Leicester is facing at least another two weeks of lockdown in a bid to control an outbreak in the area.

The current lockdown restrictions are due to be lifted on American Independence Day (July 4), this would allow pubs, hotels, and places of worship to open to the general public, local council officials are suggesting that the lockdown remain in place for at least two weeks beyond that date.

The mayor of Leicester said: “It was only last Thursday that we finally got some of the data we need but we’re still not getting all of it and it was only at 1.04am that the recommendations for Leicester arrived in my inbox.

“What they’re suggesting is not a return to lockdown, it seems that what they’re suggesting is that we continue the present level of restriction for a further two weeks beyond July 4.

“I’ve looked at this report and frankly it’s obviously been cobbled together very hastily. It’s superficial and its description of Leicester is inaccurate and certainly it does not provide us with the information we need if we are to remain restricted for two weeks longer than the rest of the country.”

In a statement the local MP for Leicester said: a local lockdown is necessary for her constituency where 866 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the past two weeks, because of “significant levels of African and Asian minority ethnic communities” and “significant levels of poverty”.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said: “There are significant worries and significant problems in terms of inequalities and high levels of poverty that I’m concerned about.

“That is the context in which this Covid-19 is operating in. So I’m very concerned, and I really do believe that where the data allows we need to ensure that we engage in processes to protect lives, and I think we need to go into therefore more localised lockdown to protect lives and ensure that we can address this virus.

“The Government hasn’t reassured us. Thus far, the messages and the communication from the Government have been unclear, and it has been difficult, and I really don’t understand what communities are meant to follow”.