Covid: Hartlepool parents warned as town's virus cases rise

Parents in Hartlepool have been told they should "know where their children are and who they are with" amid reports of up to 40 young people gathering.

Latest figures put the town second behind Hull in terms of the number of new infections in England.

Officials said large groups had become "a particular problem" in recent days.

Borough council leader Shane Moore warned the town could be placed under tier three restrictions post-lockdown if the situation did not improve.

The data shows 559 new cases recorded in the week to the 13 November, giving it a rate of 596.8 per 100,000 people.

Mr Moore said the "vast majority" of people in Hartlepool were following the guidelines but some were becoming "complacent".

As a result, he said, he feared the town was "facing the barrel of tier three" .

"I think unfortunately unless numbers start to change quite drastically in the next couple of weeks we won't be in a very good position coming out of this lockdown period.

"We can identify a couple of the outbreaks to some specific large activities and one of them was linked to a dance school and a number of other extra-curricular activities for schoolchildren and then it has unfortunately spread from there, from schools, to families back in the home."

The council, run by the Hartlepool Independent Union, said there were also concerns about people failing to socially distance, including when out shopping.

Labour's Mike Hill, Hartlepool's MP, said the increase was not down to "the discipline that people of Hartlepool have kept to" but "the statistics that are rolling out off the back of the testing".

Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland were also in the top 20 council areas with the highest rates of new cases, according to Public Health England.

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