Leicester lockdown to be eased on 24 July
Leicester’s local lockdown will be eased on 24 July, after a drop in its coronavirus infection rate.
Schools, early years child care and some non-essential retail shops will be allowed to reopen next week, but restaurants and pubs will remain closed.
Restrictions on travel and meeting more than six people will also remain in place.
The power to designate which non-essential shops can open has been delegated to a new local power.
Health secretary Matt Hancock told MPs today that the seven-day coronavirus infection rate for Leicester is 119 per 100,000 people, which is still “well above” the national average.
The infection rate was 135 people per 100,000 people when Leicester was put into lockdown and also accounted for 10 per cent of national cases at the time.
Out of the people tested in the past week, 4.8 per cent had Covid-19.
Hancock said Public Health England had doubled the amount of local testing since the lockdown was imposed.
The new restrictions will be assessed in another two week’ time.
“It remains vital for the health of everyone in Leicester and the rest of country that these restrictions stay in place,” Hancock said.
“I pay tribute to you all, your perseverance has bought real tangible results.”
It comes after Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said earlier today that 90 per cent of the city should be exempt from the lockdown.
He said that this was because only 10 per cent of the city had high rates of coronavirus.
Soulsby said “there are going to be an awful lot of Leicester people who are very angry indeed” if lockdown was extended.