Northampton council leader: 'Huge relief to see coronavirus infection rate decreasing but we are extremely worried about complacency'

Northampton council's leader expressed his 'huge relief' at the town's coronavirus infection rate decreasing but he is 'extremely worried' about it going back up.

The proportion of positive Covid-19 cases in Northampton has gone down significantly following the spike caused by the Greencore outbreak, a press conference heard this afternoon (Friday, August 28).

Northampton Borough Council leader Jonathan Nunn thanked residents and businesses for their 'tremendous effort' to listen to the town-specific guidance and use the testing centres.

But the Conservative group leader said he was concerned about people 'being given an inch and taking a mile', especially with the combination of pay day and the bank holiday weekend.

"I'm extremely worried we shouldn't be complacent so the message I would give to the people of Northampton is what you're doing seems to be making a difference but we've got to keep pushing, pushing, pushing," he said.

"Let's really keep pushing all the basic precautions from hand-washing all the way through to avoiding car-sharing, being really careful on buses, put your mask on before you join the queue, keep your mask on until you get off the bus and you're away from confined areas.

"All of these other things we've got to keep doing as personally I am worried that now we cannot, I keep using this expression, take our foot off the gas."

Northampton remains a government 'area of enhanced intervention' after nearly 300 positive coronavirus cases were found at Greencore earlier this month.

But the town's infection rate has now reduced to 37.8 cases per 100,000 people in the week from August 17-23.

Northamptonshire County Council's public health team believes this shows the outbreak at the Moulton Park Industrial Estate food factory has not spread into the wider community.

Cllr Nunn said: "Gosh, we are by no means out of the woods, we have a long way to go but it can't be anything but encouraging or frankly a huge relief that we now have seen some decrease in incident rates and that's got to be welcomed.

"I want to thank residents and businesses for the tremendous effort that's being undertaken across specifically the borough of Northampton but also the county, we know the great lengths people are going to.

"Whilst not taking our foot off the gas, let's thank everybody for everything they are doing in our communities and our businesses.

"I do think the second part of that is the tremendous activity we see going on locally so thanks to all those involved in the effort across councils, public health, the NHS and so on."

Testing sites have been going around industrial sites following the Greencore outbreak, starting at Moulton Park before Grange Park - adding to the walk-in centre in Market Square.

Cllr Nunn said the number of people getting tested remains at good numbers, particularly on the industrial estates.

Brackmills Industrial Estate will be getting a testing centre next week, which the council leader expects to be well-used with help from the area's BID (Business Improvement District).

He ended his statement with: "A big thank you to everybody but we're not just looking to get back to this level or the national average, let's absolutely smash through this thing and make Northampton and Northamptonshire a safe place to live.

"As we consider schools going back, lets do absolutely everything we possibly can."

The guidance for people in Northampton is to limit contact with people outside your household or bubble, do not share items outside your household, avoid using public transport and car-sharing, work from home if you can, and get a test if you have symptoms or are just concerned you may have been exposed to the virus.