Wigan Council refutes further lockdown claims

Council chiefs said the area is "not currently at risk" of this happening, despite national media reports claiming Wigan is one of 36 areas where coronavirus cases are rising and face the risk of being put back into lockdown.

But Professor Kate Ardern, the council's director of public health, described the reports as misleading, unhelpful and irresponsible, saying Wigan has the sixth lowest rate of cases in Greater Manchester.

It comes as Leicester has the UK's first local lockdown imposed on it.

Prof Ardern said: “Following the government’s decision to introduce a local lockdown in Leicester, we have been made aware that the media is sharing a list of places that could be next, including Wigan.

“The figures being quoted are weekly case increases, without any wider context. So for example, in the last week we only recorded two new cases, compared to zero cases the week before. Our 7-day infection rate is 3.7 per 100,000 people compared to Leicester’s rate of 135 per 100,000. We also currently have the sixth lowest rate of cases in Greater Manchester and cases in Wigan have only accounted for 0.3% of all national cases this week.

“The way this information has been pulled together is misleading, unhelpful and irresponsible.

She added: "I’d like to reassure our residents that we monitor all cases through our daily Covid-19 tracker which we’ll be sharing publicly on our website shortly so all residents can see clear, accurate, up to date information which should help put their minds at ease, but to be clear judging by our latest figures, I don’t think we can expect a local lockdown any time soon.”