Coronavirus panic as phe announces two new areas of intervention

Luton in Bedfordshire and Blackburn with Darwen in Lancashire have been upgraded to “areas of intervention” by PHE. They are now at the same level as Leicester and Oadby and Wigston which

were subject to the UK's first ever local lockdown. PHE defines “areas of intervention” as those "where there is divergence from the measures in place in the rest of England

because of the significance of the spread, with a detailed action plan in place, and local resources augmented with a national support”. The rate of coronavirus cases in Blackburn with

Darwen has jumped from 49.7 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to July 13 to 81.9 in the seven days to July 20. The leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council said it was "sensible not to

relax" lockdown restrictions. Councillor Mohammed Khan said: "We are very grateful to our communities for working with us. “The increase in testing is helping to ensure that we

are heading in the right direction with a reduction in positive cases and hospital admissions. "We need to keep up the momentum with our strong prevention work so we agree it's

sensible not to relax the easing of restrictions at the moment to stop the spread. "We have already decided to delay the opening of our council leisure facilities along with introducing

other localised prevention measures. “We feel that accelerating our control measures in this way will assist us to move out of having higher Covid rates even faster - we are grateful for

the Government's help in our local plans on this." READ MORE: CORONAVIRUS: NEW COVID-19 TEST GIVES POSITIVE RESULT IN 45 MINUTES “Too many families and friends have lost loved ones

and we must do everything we can to ensure more lives aren't wasted unnecessarily. “There has been too much heartache in the town for us to risk further anguish, pain and

suffering." It comes as people will need to wear face coverings in shops and supermarkets from Friday under new rules to combat the spread of coronavirus which are enforceable by the

police. Face masks are already mandatory on public transport. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "As we move into the next stage of easing restrictions for the public, it is vital we

continue to shop safely so that we can make the most of our fantastic retail industry this summer. "Everyone must play their part in fighting this virus by following this new guidance.

I also want to thank the British public for all the sacrifices they are making to help keep this country safe." It comes as a further 53 people have died in hospitals, care homes and

the wider community in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus taking the death toll to 45,554. The number of confirmed cases has risen by 769 to 297,146, according to the Government’s

latest figures.