VIRUS SURGE
The 10 towns and counties where coronavirus cases are rising and risking more local lockdowns
CORONAVIRUS cases have risen in 10 towns and counties in the past two weeks - risking more local lockdowns.
The new hotspots could follow Leicester in seeing restrictions brought back in, and pubs and schools closed up again.
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Health officials are now keeping a close eye on these hotspots threatening the UK's fight against the killer bug.
Leicester city council today reported 944 new cases emerged in two weeks, with Public Health England data earlier suggesting a rise of 80 between June 13 - June 26.
And Doncaster, second in the table, saw 43 new infections - half the cases Leicester reported - within the same two week period.
Derbyshire, which borders Leicestershire, has also seen a worrying spike, with 25 new cases in the week up to June 26, a rise of 23 on the previous week.
Sandwell, also in the Midlands, reported 18 new infections between June 13 - June 26.
London boroughs Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing are also in the ten areas seeing a rise, and all reported cases more than double in just a week in the same time period.
It comes as the UK has been seeing a general trend of falling cases, after months of lockdown restrictions.
Most areas of the country had been reporting a steady decline in infections, but since mid-June, these 10 spots have seen a rise.
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Wigan, Richmond upon Thames and Gateshead all reported no new cases a week-and-a-half ago, but have each seen two new infections in the week ending June 26.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said yesterday Leicester would be the only place in England not allowed to ease restrictions after a spike - but warned the lockdown measures could be brought back in for other rising hotspots.
A number of northern towns and their infection rates are worrying experts, with The Times reporting health officials have warned Leicester is a "tinderbox" for a rise in cases.
Rates of infection in the city are now three times that of the town with the next highest rate.
And as cases fail to drop in line with the rest of the country, 10 per cent of tests are currently coming back positive - five times the national rate.
Non-essential shops in the city will have to shut again from today in a local lockdown, and schools will close for most pupils from Thursday - taking it back to the more severe restrictions of May.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking yesterday, said the Government is "concerned about Leicester".
He said: "I want to stress to people that we are not out of the woods yet.
"We are making these cautious, calibrated steps, we are opening as much of hospitality as we can on July 4, opening as much of the economy as we can - some things, alas, still remain closed until they can become Covid secure.
"But to make all that possible we have to remain vigilant."
He said a "whack-a-mole" strategy to contain local outbreaks had worked in Weston-super-Mare and where there had been outbreaks around GP surgeries in London.
Professor Keith Neal, Emeritus Professor of the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases at University of Nottingham, : “One of the biggest problems is deciding who is in the lockdown area and who is not.
"This needs to be understandable to both the people who are inside and the people on the outside.
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"Defining the specific area will be one of the largest problems. Local authority boundaries can run down the middle of the street with one side in one local authority and the opposite another."
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