Days of Leicester lockdown

JULY 5

Leicester lockdown again dominated the Sunday papers. This time it was factories and the role they could have played.

JULY 7

Matt Hancock gave the first, sketchy, hint of how Leicester might come out of lockdown. He said data was “moving in the right direction” but warned the Government could take further action.

JULY 8

Leicester West MP Liz Kendall received a letter from Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for Business and Industry, saying there would be no extra support for locked-down businesses, provoking fury.

JULY 13

County leader Nick Rushton said he would be lobbying the Government to lift lockdown in county areas where figures are low.

JULY 15

An “angry and frustrated” Sir Peter Soulsby released data he said proved the lockdown would not have been necessary if the Government had shared it with the city council sooner.

JULY 16

The Government announced Leicester and Oadby and Wigston would remain in lockdown for another fortnight.

Restrictions were relaxed in other county areas that were originally within the red line, but to begin with no one knew when. The Department of Health and Social Care started off by saying July 24, but that all changed some hours later to July 18.

JULY 17

Sir Peter said Mr Hancock was pressured into redrawing the boundaries of the lockdown zone by Councillor Rushton and the Tory MPs for Harborough, South Leicestershire and Charnwood.

Mr Hancock said Sir Peter had been offered the chance to contribute to drawing the lines on the map but had declined.

JULY 18

Residents and the leader of Oadby and Wigston Borough Council waste no time in making their feelings known about being kept in the lockdown zone.

JULY 21

Leicester no longer had the highest seven-day infection rate – Blackburn with Darwen had.

JULY 22

Non-essential shops in the lockdown zone prepared to reopen, but the Government said only essential travel into, out of and within the city was permitted, leaving many not knowing whether they could visit shops.

JULY 24

Sir Peter took part in a Zoom call where Leicester’s escape plan was discussed, but said it was still unclear what would happen when the restrictions were reviewed.

AUGUST 1

Some clarification on what people in Leicester could and could not now do started to trickle through as city MPs criticised the government for not being clear.

Places of worship and pubs, restaurants, cafes and hairdressers were told they could open.

Limitations on household visits would remain. Leicester residents were told holidays were permitted but only with members of their household or support bubble.

AUGUST 7

A surprise review but no change to the rules.

Gyms, swimming pools, bowling alleys and beauty salons remained closed and household rules also remained in place.

AUGUST 14

Decision day again but without any decision.

There was no review but confirmation existing rules would stay in place until Monday, when there would be a review.

AUGUST 17

Rules were updated to allow beauty salons, nail bars and tattoo studios to open, as they did elsewhere on July 13.

But only services that did not involve work in the highest risk zone, directly in front of the face, should be made available.

Household visits to friends and family, and seeing people in private gardens, remained restricted.

AUGUST 28

Decision day again. This time, with cases and infection rates low, there was an air of hope things might change for those wanting to spend time with family over the bank holiday weekend.

AUGUST 31

Leicester’s seven-day coronavirus infection rate has dropped dramatically again but some local restrictions remained in place.

The city now sat in 16th place when compared with other areas across the country – lower than several places where local lockdown restrictions were to be lifted.

SEPTEMBER 1

The majority of county and city children were now back in school.

Rates across the city seemed to be dropping to their lowest levels since the local lockdown.

But trouble was afoot at testing centres as a Plymouth man was offered an appointment in Leicester.

SEPTEMBER 2

More positive news as Leicester’s hospitals revealed there were no deaths in the previous week.

SEPTEMBER 3

County councillor David Bill claimed Leicester’s reputation had been “shot to pieces” due to the local lockdown.

Sir Peter disputed the claims and again expressed his frustration that restrictions remained.

SEPTEMBER 4

A surprise announcement, but good news for some as gyms and swimming pools were among businesses allowed to reopen.

SEPTEMBER 8

Reports of confirmed cases within schools started to filter through. Thousands of students were sent home to self-isolate.

SEPTEMBER 10

Testing times continued as people in Leicester could not get appointments in the city, and people from elsewhere were offered slots for a swab in the city.

SEPTEMBER 11

Review day again and Leicester was left hanging.

At 6pm an e-mail dropped saying trips to casinos, bowling alleys and close contact beauty treatments were now permitted.

But calls to bring the city in line with other areas and the rule of six fell on deaf ears.

SEPTEMBER 14

Almost 200 new coronavirus cases were confirmed across the city and county over the weekend.

A total of 99 cases were added to the city’s toll – taking it to 6,142 since the start of lockdown.

SEPTEMBER 18

After days of mounting speculation, the government announced Oadby and Wigston would rejoin Leicester in local lockdown.

Borough leaders had already been encouraging residents not to mix with other households and introduced a curfew, closing parks to the public from 5pm to 7am.

SEPTEMBER 22

Boris Johnson hailed the “heroic” efforts of people in Leicester in combating coronavirus after three months of local lockdown.

The Prime Minister used the example of the city, the first in the UK to go into local lockdown at the end of June, while setting out a series of tighter restrictions intended to hold back a second wave of Covid-19.

SEPTEMBER 25

The first cases of coronavirus were confirmed on the De Montfort and Leicester university campuses after staff return for the new term. The Department of Health and Social Care also carried out its latest review of the rules. There was again no change to the restrictions.

OCTOBER 1

A damning report commissioned by the government criticised its own handling of the Leicester lockdown.

The report, written by Dame Mary Ney, said people in the city were left unclear over what restrictions were in place because the government “lacked a clear single message”.

OCTOBER 5

A Public Health England glitch meant that local cases went underreported and 612 cases were added to the totals in one weekend.

The city’s infection rate neared the level it was at when the local lockdown first started.

OCTOBER 7

The milestone the city never wanted to reach – 100 days in local lockdown.

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Boris Johnson hailed the “heroic” efforts of people in Leicester in combating coronavirus