Coronavirus watchlist to include Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland

Several areas in the North East of England are to be placed on Public Health England's watchlist for increased coronavirus support following a rise in cases over the last week.

Newcastle and Gateshead councils confirmed they will be added to the updated list, which will be announced by the government on Friday.

The latter warned restrictions could be "imminent" if infections rose further.

Sunderland and South Tyneside are also expected to be included after spikes.

Areas on the "enhanced support" watchlist are given additional resources by the government, such as greater levels of testing.

Gateshead said cases had more than trebled in the past seven days with 113 new ones in the first week of September, equating to about 55 cases per 100,000 people.

Newcastle City Council said there had been 145 new cases in the last seven days, equating to 48 cases per 100,000 people.

Care homes across the city have been advised to close to non-essential visits, with the exception of residents receiving end-of life care or with dementia.

The authority's director of public health, Eugene Milne, said almost 60% of people in the city who tested positive in the past two weeks were from the 18 to 30 age group.

"The profile of cases we're seeing at the moment is different to the profile we saw at the peak of the pandemic.

"We've seen about 20 cases a day in the latest figures. When we were at the low point we'd dropped to about two or three cases a day so it's a 10-fold increase.

"I'd be very reluctant to say it's just about young people's behaviour, but we do need to get the message through because there's a terrible risk young people forget [to take precautions] because they don't see the danger."

Alice Wiseman, director of public health at neighbouring Gateshead Council, described the situation as "extremely worrying".

Enhanced support is the second of three tiers on the watchlist with the highest level resulting in government intervention in a bid to help slow the spread of the virus.

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