Covid: Northampton professor calls for more social restrictions

A county which has some of the highest infection rates in England has "a real issue" trying to stop the spread of Covid-19, a university professor said.

The Northamptonshire districts of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough have all had the highest national case rate at some point over the last month.

Of the county's seven districts, only South Northamptonshire has not featured in the top 20 in the same period.

Dr Stephen O'Brien said stricter social restrictions should be reintroduced.

In the week to 15 October, Wellingborough had the fifth-highest Covid-19 rate in England with 794.2 cases per 100,000 people, a 2% week-on-week rise.

East Northamptonshire had the 20th- highest rate with 712.9 cases per 100,000 people, a 10% week-on-week rise.

All districts in Northamptonshire were in the top 100 for case rates, although Kettering saw a 21% week-on-week drop in case rates.

Dr O'Brien, a visiting professor of nursing at the University of Northampton, said the ongoing high rates in the county were "very worrying".

"It does look like we have a real issue with trying to mitigate and manage the spread of the virus in the county and we've been struggling with that for a few weeks," he said.

He said the rise was driven by "secondary school children, where the virus is spreading quickly with mixing of children and their parents".

The NHS Confederation has said a back-up strategy, or Plan B, which includes mandatory face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces, should be implemented now to avoid hospitals becoming overwhelmed.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said it was not time for Plan B yet and urged greater uptake of booster jabs.

But Dr O'Brien said "not as many have taken up the booster" as the first two doses and he believed more measures should be introduced.

"We are only storing problems up for ourselves, we should be moving to plan B now," he said.

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