Local lockdown eased for 1m in the North

SOCIAL distancing rules will be lifted for one million hit by local lockdowns.

From Wednesday members of two households will be able to mix again in areas across the North West after coronavirus rates started to fall.

Restrictions will be lifted in some boroughs of Greater Manchester and lancashire – Bolton, Stockport, Trafford, Hyndburn and Burnley – but remain in others.

The local lockdown will be lifted in parts of West Yorkshire but not in hotspots such as Bradford city centre, Keighley, Halifax, Dewsbury and Batley.

Restrictions will remain in force in Pendle and Blackburn in lancashire, and in leicester. Meanwhile, Sandwell in the West Midlands and Swindon in Wiltshire were put on a Covid watch list, meaning they could be added to the local lockdown list later if cases continue to rise.

The lockdown was first imposed on July 30 and means people from two households cannot mix under the same roof unless they are in a support bubble.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘We’re seeing the positive results of our local approach and are able to bring in increasingly targeted measures.

‘It is vital we can maintain this good progress. I have every faith people across the country… will continue to play their part by following local rules, and self-isolating and requesting a free test as soon as they get any symptoms.’ The changes were agreed yesterday by Mr Hancock, NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and the Chief Medical Officer for England.

Businesses and organisations that opened elsewhere in England on August 15 will also be permitted to reopen in the areas where the local lockdown is being lifted.