Cities could be no-go zones to tackle local outbreaks
Residents could be banned from leaving the towns or cities they live in as part of efforts to tackle local coronavirus outbreaks.
Ministers have drawn up radical plans to impose strict travel restrictions that would seal off affected areas from the rest of the country if there is a significant spike in infections.
individual towns or even entire regions could become no-go zones with a ban on people entering or leaving. the proposals are part of the Government’s ‘Contain’ strategy, as it attempts to use targeted local measures to prevent the need for another nationwide lockdown.
the Prime Minister’s spokesman said yesterday: ‘Our focus is on locating and dealing with outbreaks at a very localised level.
‘We want to identify potential outbreaks at the earliest possible moment and then take action to deal with them.’
A list of options has been drawn up with possible actions that ministers could take to tackle local flare-ups.
they follow the decision last week to ban people from different households meeting indoors in Greater Manchester, as well as parts of Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Restrictions on move
‘We want to take action early’
ment could include requiring everyone in an area to ‘stay at home’, banning overnight stays or ‘restrictions on entering or leaving a defined area’.
transport systems could either be closed down entirely or introduce new restrictions such as capping the number of passengers or limiting how far they can travel.
services could also be reserved for the use of key workers, such as NHS staff. downing street yesterday denied that the plans had been specifically drawn up for London, following reports the M25 could be used to seal off the capital.
A spokesman confirmed that the ‘Contain’ strategy sets out ‘the possibility of putting in place restrictions on travel if there is an area that is particularly badly affected’.
But he added: ‘to be clear, it’s not something that is specific to London or anywhere else.’ the Mayor of London yesterday wrote to the Prime Minister to express ‘great surprise’ that the Government could use the motorway around the capital to seal it off from the rest of the country.
sadiq Khan also pointed out that it has been 12 weeks since he was invited to a Cobra meeting.
A letter sent to Boris Johnson from Mr Khan and Peter John, chairman of London Councils, said: ‘Riding roughshod over democratically elected representatives who understand their communities better than central Government will lead to worse outcomes for Londoners, and the country as a whole.’
A health chief in Greater Manchester yesterday said the declaration of a major incident announced there yesterday should jolt a ‘complacent white middle class’ into realising that coronavirus is not just spreading in ethnic minority households.
eleanor Roaf, director of public health in trafford, said 80 per cent of its infections in the last week were in the white community and she urged the region’s 2.8million residents to concentrate ‘ much harder on what we can do to stop the wider spread’.
Meanwhile Health secretary Matt Hancock yesterday denied that ministers were considering a more specifically- targeted shielding programme for the over-50s.
He said: ‘We paused the shielding programme because the number of infections is so low. the reports with respect to the over-50s are inaccurate and they’re speculation. But we’ll always do whatever’s necessary to keep people safe.’
Millions are being put back into lockdown because of skewed data caused by mass testing, a leading scientist has warned.
Carl Heneghan, director of Oxford University’s Centre for evidence-Based Medicine, said data showed cases are still either going down or ‘flatlining’ across the UK.
testing inaccuracies, delays to results and ‘ poor interpretation’ of the figures are to blame for the apparent rise in infections in parts of the country, he said.