Infection rate in city shows sharp fall over the past week

THE seven-day coronavirus infection rate in Leicester has dropped dramatically again.

The city now has the 16th-highest infection rate the country. It comes lower down the list than several places where local lockdown restrictions will be lifted this week.

The rate now stands at 23.6 cases per 100,000, using data up to August 28, meaning it has almost halved since the week before, when it was 42.2.

From Wednesday, rules will be relaxed in Bolton, Stockport, Trafford, Burnley, Hyndburn and parts of Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees.

The data shows that 84 cases were confirmed in the city in the seven days before August 28, down 51 per cent on the previous week.

The national rate is 11.1 cases per

100,000.

When Health Secretary Matt Hancock first announced the local lockdown, the rate in Leicestershire was 135 cases per 100,000 people.

The government said on Friday that numbers in the city were still too high to relax the remaining restrictions, meaning some sectors of the economy have to stay closed and families and friends cannot meet indoors, at homes or in private gardens.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said last week: “It seems like the government wants to confine us to an indefinite period of lockdown.

“We have argued for some relaxation but they have not listened.

“Garden meetings are something we have repeatedly pushed for to be allowed.

“Most people can see it is plainly ridiculous that you can meet granny in the park at a social distance but you cannot meet granny in her garden at that same social distance.

“There are glaring contradictions in the rules.”

The government has been asked to explain why it has rejected the council’s appeal to allow garden meetings but it has not responded.

People living in the city also reacted with confusion and anger, with some asking why it is considered safe for children to return to school but not visit grandparents.

Pupils across the county will return to class this week as schools open their doors to all pupils since March.

The next review of local lockdown restrictions will be on September 11.