Pressure on PM to consider lifting lockdown earlier after zero cases in one borough

ZERO new confirmed Covid-19 cases were announced for a London borough in the latest daily figures as doubts grew today over Boris Johnson’s lockdown easing roadmap.

Kensington and Chelsea is one of 10 boroughs in the capital with a seven-day rate below 50 new infections per 100,000 residents in the week to February 25, and no new cases were announced for it yesterday.

Tower Hamlets saw just seven new confirmed cases announced yesterday, Westminster nine, Islington 12, Hackney and City of London 13, Camden 14, Southwark 16, and the same number in Lewisham.

In outer London, Bromley had 10 new cases, Kingston 13 and Haringey 15. Daily infections fluctuate and so public health chiefs use weekly figures to assess the disease levels. All the boroughs highlighted have a seven-day rate between 38.9 new cases a week per 100,000 and 57.7.

Ministers, health chiefs and Mayor Sadiq Khan are urging people to stick to the rules to push down disease levels further with restrictions due to start to be eased on Monday, with schools reopening.

But as the vaccine rollout accelerates and cases drop to low levels in some areas but remain far higher in others, questions are being raised about the Government’s decision to ease lockdown on a national basis — and only properly lift restrictions from June 21 at the earliest.

At least one scientist, Graham Medley, professor of infectious disease modelling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, suggested that the Prime Minister could face dilemmas over easing lockdown if disease levels are significantly different in parts of the country.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “I am all in favour, looking at the existing evidence, of accelerating the process of easing lockdown.”

Kensington Tory MP Felicity Buchan said: “Stick to the roadmap. If cases continue to be so low going forward, we should not rule our reviewing it.”

London’s seven-day rate was 65.4 as of February 25 after a weekly fall of 24.8 per cent. In the South-East it was 65.2, down 23.2 per cent. In contrast, it was 145.1 in the East Midlands after a fall of 18.1 per cent