LOCKDOWN CATASTROPHE
Task force sent in after big spike in Covid cases Locals beg Government not to quarantine Oldham
OLDHAM could be the next town forced back into lockdown after it recorded the country’s third-highest infection rate.
Bars, shops and restaurants could be ordered to shut just after reopening as a government task force sent to the town yesterday reports to Downing Street today.
Council leaders claim it would devastate struggling businesses and make no difference to the spread of the virus, which they say is travelling between family groups and not by people “going for a pint”.
In one area of the town a single extended family is believed to be behind a cluster of 30 infections.
Council leader Sean Fielding feared a lockdown was imminent.
He said: “We’ve had communication from Government that it’s genuinely being considered. We’re strongly making the case that it would not be the right solution.
“We have youth unemployment of 9.5%, and 15% unemployment generally, so it would be cata
strophic for businesses and for the working-age population.
“This could be hundreds of businesses that have made themselves Covid-secure, spent money doing so, reopened, traded for a short time, being asked to close again.
“The likelihood is many would simply not be able to reopen once the restrictions are lifted again.”
He said the virus was “predominantly” spreading through households amid deprivation, low wages and crowded living conditions.
Save the Children said the town has England’s highest child poverty
rate, and warned deprivation could soar if there is a local lockdown.
Oldham had the country’s thirdhighest infection rate in the seven days to August 15, with 83.1 new cases per 100,000, down from 109.7 the week before. There were 197 new coronavirus cases there.
Birmingham is also edging closer to lockdown with 362 new cases – the highest number in the UK. The infection rate there rose to 31.7 per 100,000, from 19.7 last week, Public Health England data shows.
Northampton has the highest rate due to an outbreak at the
Greencore sandwich factory, with 279 new cases in the seven days to August 15. That is 124.2 per 100,000, from 38.7 the week before.
Leicester was the first city put in local lockdown on June 29 with an infection rate of 135 per 100,000.
Households in Oldham were already banned from mixing indoors last month after cases rose.
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has written telling Health Secretary Matt Hancock there is “no case” for a stricter lockdown. Oldham MP Jim McMahon has also asked Mr Hancock to delay a decision for two weeks to see if local interventions can work.
But Mr Hancock said: “There is a big challenge in Oldham.”
Shoppers there blamed people ignoring social distancing rules. Motor parts company boss Aatif Rafiq said: “We need to lock down fully. Social distancing needs to be stricter in pubs and restaurants.”
Clothing retail boss Jane Varley, 55, said: “People aren’t socially distancing. Where I work they’re not following the one-way system.”
Outside the Up Steps Inn, engineer John Taylor, 52, said: “The smaller independent pubs and shops will be in trouble. They’ve just reopened after being closed for months. It’d be the end for them if they have to close down again.