The UK at a glance

Blackburn

New Covid hotspot: The Lancashire borough of Blackburn with Darwen has overtaken Leicester as England’s coronavirus hotspot: in the week to last Friday, the area had 79.2 cases per 100,000 of population. The figures emerged as 250 mourners who attended a funeral at a mosque were told to self-isolate after an imam tested positive for Covid-19. However, Professor Dominic Harrison, public health director for the region, said a local lockdown would be “a very, very last resort”, as local guidelines, such as wearing masks in all public places, were having a positive impact. He said that cases were likely to rise further, as testing was ramped up. Leicester, which went into lockdown when cases reached 135 per 100,000, is now recording 77.7 per 100,000. This week, Matt Hancock said that the council could allow some non-essential shops to reopen, but that pubs and restaurants should stay closed.

West Midlands

Flag row: The West Midlands Fire Service has elected to stop flying the official Black Country flag because of its “potential links to slavery”. Designed by 11-year-old Gracie Sheppard in 2012 and chosen by a public vote, the flag features an image of the chains that were forged in the region’s foundries, and is designed to represent its industrial heritage. Defenders of the logo argue that the chains were sold to shipbuilders. But its critics have long pointed out that local foundries also supplied metal goods to slave traders and plantation owners.

Belfast

Travel row: First Minister Arlene Foster has dismissed a suggestion that visitors from Great Britain should have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival.

Her power-sharing deputy, Sinn Féin’s

Michelle O’Neill, had proposed the idea, which would bring Northern Ireland’s rules into line with the Republic’s. She said travel from Britain was “probably the biggest risk” faced by Northern Ireland, where a total of 556 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded. But Foster, the leader of the DUP, rejected the idea, and insisted that the common travel area needed to be “respected”.

Vale of Glamorgan

First gigafactory: A company that makes batteries for electric cars is planning to develop Britain’s first “gigafactory” in the Vale of Glamorgan. Britishvolt says the 30-gigawatt plant – which will have a 200-megawatt solar plant attached – would create as many as 3,500 jobs in the area. Following discussions with the Welsh government, the company has signed a lease for a former Royal Air Force base at Bro Tathan, at the same site where Aston Martin produces its DBX SUV. The news is a boost to the region’s car manufacturing industry, which was dealt a blow when Ford decided to close its Bridgend engine plant by September this year. Britishvolt hopes to have funding ready to start building its factory in the second quarter of 2021.

Bath

Illegal rave: Police have said they did not have the manpower to stop an illegal rave near Bath, which drew more than 3,000 revellers at the weekend. The event, at the former RAF Charmy Down airfield, went on through the night. The local Avon and Somerset Police arrived at the scene within minutes of being alerted to the event, but Ch. Supt. Ian Wylie said that it simply wasn’t possible for his officers to disperse a crowd of that size at that time of night. “We don’t have a standing army waiting to deal with these issues,” he said.

Motherwell, North Lanarkshire

Tracing centre outbreak: Public Health Scotland is “urgently investigating” an outbreak of Covid-19 at a test and trace call centre in Motherwell. Six workers at the centre, which carries out contact tracing for NHS England, have tested positive; and the rest of the staff at the site have been asked to get tested too. This week, they were working from home while a deep clean took place at the office. Speaking anonymously to the PA news agency, one staff member claimed that workers at the centre, which is run by outsourcing firm Sitel, had not been following social distancing rules. Scotland as a whole experienced a small rise in cases this week, with more than 20 new cases recorded on both Saturday and Sunday. The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that while the number of cases was still low, and “fluctuation is to be expected”, officials would be taking the rise seriously.

London

Knee-on-neck arrest: A Metropolitan police officer has been suspended after a video emerged of him apparently kneeling on a suspect’s neck while the man lay on the ground. Marcus Coutain, 48, was arrested last Thursday in Islington, north London, and in the film can be heard shouting, “Get off my neck.” Police were responding to reports of a fight, and he was later charged with possessing a knife. The Metropolitan Police said the video looks “very concerning”, and referred the case to the police watchdog for further investigation. A second officer has been placed on restricted duties. Coutain’s lawyer has said the events “mirror almost identically” the arrest of George Floyd, whose death at the hands of the police in Minneapolis triggered worldwide protests.