Robert Peston Robert Peston

Is Leicester going to see England’s first local lockdown?

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The first local lockdown – and therefore a test of whether local lockdowns will be effective in suppressing coronavirus outbreaks – could take place within days, according to senior members of the government.

One pointed out that there has been a surge in cases in Leicester: there were 658 coronavirus cases in the Leicester area in the fortnight to 16 June.

New data on the prevalence of the virus in the area has been delivered to Leicester’s mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, according to the LeicesterLive website, and he said his officials were analysing the data over the weekend.

I am told that the data does not yet show that a full lockdown is required.

A senior official said: ‘It would need to be driven by the data and we’re not at that stage right now.

Robert Peston
Written by
Robert Peston
Robert Peston is Political Editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston. His articles originally appeared on his ITV News blog.

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