‘Beyond urgent’: Middlesbrough ‘on fringe’ of lockdown as coronavirus outbreaks emerge across town

Forty cases have been identified in four days: ‘We need to get a grip,’ says mayor

The council said it was now upping closures of pubs and restaurants which flout guidelines and had requested a mobile testing hub to be sent to the town (Shutterstock/Red Carpet 2020)

Middlesbrough is “on the fringe” of a coronavirus lockdown after a series of seemingly unrelated outbreaks in different areas across the northeast town, its mayor has warned.

Residents and businesses must act immediately to avoid major restrictions being implemented, Andy Preston said on Wednesday night.

The situation had become “beyond urgent,” he added.

“It’s never our intention to cause unnecessary alarm,” he said. “But as a town we need to get a grip of this virus and break the chains of transmission now.

“The problem we have is a scattering of cases from different parts of Middlesbrough that have the potential to grow. It’s now beyond urgent that we do all we can to stop the spread.”

He urged people to wear masks, wash hands and keep socially distancing.

The warning came after Middlesbrough Council and Public Health England revealed 40 new cases had emerged in just four days, spread out across the town and affecting different age, ethnic and social groups.

Crucially, those cases were identified after the town had already been put on the government watchlist on Friday (28 August) following a previous surge which saw infection rates almost treble in the previous week.

Mr Preston, an independent directly elected mayor who came to power last year, added: “Other towns and cities around the country have lost freedoms due to high infection rates.

“If we’re not careful we will find ourselves in the same situation where visits to other people’s homes will be banned and certain businesses could close.”

Middlesbrough itself has already been especially hard hit by the virus. Some 167 people have died there, a rate of 118.5 for every 100,000 people. For context, the average rate in England is only 65.5.

There is particular concern, meanwhile, about just how damaging the economic impact of a local lockdown would be in the town, which is already, by some measures, one of England’s most deprived. Some 48.8 per cent of all neighbourhoods here are considered deprived according to government figures, the highest such rates in England.

“We need to stop the virus spinning out of control in Middlesbrough and stop Covid damaging health and jobs in our town,” said Mr Preston.

The council said it was now upping closures of pubs and restaurants which flout guidelines and had requested a mobile testing hub to be sent to the town.

Leicester remains the only place in the country which has had a full local lockdown but four million people in Greater Manchester, parts of east Lancashire and chunks of West Yorkshire have also seen some liberties curtailed this summer in a bid to curb rising infection rates there.