‘This is not where we wanted to be at halfway through lockdown’ says chief

PEOPLE in Leicestershire have been told they have around a week to save Christmas from a tight lockdown.

The government is starting to think about what measures it will impose to try to stem the spread of coronavirus when the national lockdown ends on December 2

So far, nearly three weeks of national restrictions have failed to make a dent in rising infections in the county, with rates here far in excess of what they were when the government imposed the measures at the start of the month.

Latest figures show an infection rate in the city of 527.3 cases per 100,000 and 395.8 cases per 100,000 across the county. Both figures are way ahead of the 274.4 average rate nationally.

On Friday officials said Leicester was “under the hammer of the second wave” of the virus and warned that a Christmas lockdown beckoned unless rates began to fall in the final week of the national measures.

Politicians and health bosses also said household transmission of the virus was still the main cause of the spread locally and that too many people were disregarding the ban on social mixing as well as key public health advice on maintaining social distancing, face coverings and hand washing.

There has been another call to ask people to stick to the rules both to ease pressure on the struggling NHS and avert a longer stricter lockdown.

Leicestershire County Council leader Nick Rushton said on Friday last week: “We are 18 days into the second lockdown and there are 12 more to go. It hasn’t felt like the first lockdown but it is very serious and people should really try to observe it and not look for reasons to make themselves exempt or find reasons to go out.

“If we all took this second lockdown as seriously as the whole country took the first one, we would be in a lot better place.”

Coun Rushton added: “If we don’t all make an effort in 12 days we’ll have achieved nothing.

“People must make an effort to observe the rules - Hands, Face, Space - and get tested if they have any symptoms. We don’t want to have wasted 30 days of lockdown to end up in Tier 3 or whatever tiers the government dreams up on December 3.

“We have 12 days left to make a meaningful difference. Don’t go out unless you have to otherwise we’ll all end up locked down at Christmas and there will be no Santa.”

Leicestershire’s director of public health, Mike Sandys said:

“This is not where I would have wanted to be, halfway through lockdown. Going into lockdown the rate across Leicestershire was about

300 cases per 100,000 people.

“Now it’s not far off 400 and it’s appreciably higher than the national average.

“This looks like it is Leicester and Leicestershire’s turn to be under the full weight of the second wave.

“People can see a vaccine on the horizon but we have to deal with the here and now and reinforce the public health messages to keep the pressure off the NHS.

“This will be a rough ride between now and Christmas.

“Vaccination will come to our aid, but certainly not before Christmas in any meaningful numbers.

“We are clearly going to be coming out of lockdown somewhere that is not Tier 1.

“There are national discussions going on about there being a better way of structuring things,” Mr Sandys added.

Leicester’s mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: “These are difficult times for people who have already lived under restrictions for a long time, and for all of those families who have sadly lost loved ones, they are unbelievably tough.

“Despite the hard work of many, cases of coronavirus continue to rise across the city and county.

“We are therefore once again asking everyone to pull together to drive the virus down, to save lives and to prevent us from remaining under restrictions when the national lockdown ends.”