Coronavirus: Extra testing in Pendle to stop virus spread

Increased testing has been introduced in Pendle following a sharp rise in people testing positive for Covid-19.

The area in east Lancashire was second highest for new cases in England last week, according to public health stats.

"There is a cause for concern and we need to continue to be careful," said David Whipp, council deputy leader.

But he said a local lockdown or extra restrictions like Blackburn with Darwen could be avoided if "we get people acting sensibly".

"The overall numbers and the consistency of the level of transmission is much lower in Pendle and much lower than in Leicester, for instance, so that's one of the reasons why we don't need to go as far," he said.

In the Public Health England report based on the week to 11 July, Pendle was second for new cases with the equivalent of 76.6 per 100,000 population, up from 14.2 per 100,000.

It was significantly behind Leicester, which has had a local lockdown imposed, at 120.2 per 100,000.

A taskforce has been set up by Pendle Council to help curb the rise in cases.

Other steps being taken include working with local shops and other businesses to make sure they are "Covid-19 secure" and communicating with community leaders to help get safety messages across.

Mr Whipp said the council had already employed an extra environmental health officer and had demanded "better" and "more timely" data from the government.

"The data we are working on is inadequate and flawed; it isn't detailed enough," he said.

"We would really like to be able to get down to street level data where we could identify where the problems are.

"Then all our efforts can be targeted in the right areas with the right people in order to contain the disease and prevent it spreading any further."

He said he wanted to expand testing into community venues such as gyms and mosques to "target the people most likely to be transmitting the disease".

Nelson Central Mosque is already taking measures in addition to social distancing.

"We make sure we sign people in and make sure they sanitise their hands before they enter the mosque and take their temperature," volunteer Faraz Ahmad said.

He said worshippers are signed in "so if there are any signs of Covid we can trace them a lot easier".

Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, director of public health for Lancashire, said it was important "to work together to keep our communities safe".

"With the slight increase in the Covid-19 infection rate in Pendle, it's really important to stay alert to the risks," he said.

The new weekly PHE figures will be published on Friday.

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