Northampton 'could go into local lockdown' if guidelines are not followed

A county town was "odds-on" for a local lockdown within six months if people did not follow coronavirus guidelines, a police chief said.

Covid-19 cases in Northampton rose by 13 in the week ending 2 August, with 65 positive tests, putting it in the top 20 areas in England for infections.

Northamptonshire's Chief constable Nick Adderley said the town and county were "susceptible to a second spike".

"My plea would be please take precautions," he said.

"If we suffer a second lockdown, that would be catastrophic, not only for the economy, but for the freedom of the great people of this county."

Northampton, with a population of 225,000, showed 52 cases of Covid-19 for the week to 26 July, according to Public Health England (PHE) data, giving it a rate of 23.1 cases per 100,000 people.

In July, the town saw a spike in cases which put it on the PHE watchlist as an "area of concern".

In the week to 2 August, the rate rose to 28.9, making it the 15th highest out of 317 top-tier local authority areas.

For context, the number of cases in Blackburn with Darwen went down from 137 to 120 in the same period, but its rate of 80.6 was the highest in England.

In a Facebook Live Q&A session, the chief constable said the force and health partners were "doing our very best to help", but it was "down to individuals to take the precautions that have been advised".

"If you were to ask me to put money on [a local lockdown], I think it's odds-on that within the next six months, if we don't start to do something differently we're going to be teetering on the edge of that."

Meanwhile, Northampton Borough Council confirmed all public events for the rest of the year have been cancelled, although some would be held online.

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]