Northampton infection rates are 'knocking on Tier Three's door' compared to rest of county, says council leader

A warning has been set out by Northamptonshire's health chiefs that the county could lose all its progress in combating infection rates if residents "lose focus" under Tier Two.

New figures show that the county's number of positive Covid-19 cases has dropped for the second week running - but it still well above where it was in summer.

It also showed, however, that Northampton's rate was not yet under control and was still higher compared to previous weeks.

The data - based on cases between November 23 and 29 - shows a drop in infections across the county but states this only means Northamptonshire is in the same place it was before the second lockdown.

With 342 cases in that time, Northampton saw three times as many infection in that time compared to any other district in the county.

It's a sign that lockdown restrictions have paid off ahead of the Northamptonshire being placed in Tier Two restrictions earlier this week.

But the county's health chiefs urged residents at a press conference today not to 'give up' on keeping rates down.

Public health consultant Rhosyn Harris said: "It's really important we don't give up now.

"Cases in the over-60s is on the increase and that's a real concern, particularly as those are the people at the greatest risk.

"There are huge pressures on our acute services and absolutely vital that all of our community does as much as they can to prevent transmission.

"It does look like a positive [decline], but we really do need to be cautious."

Meanwhile Northampton is the only district which is still marked as having a "significantly higher" infection rate than the rest of the county.

Northampton Borough Council leader Jonathan Nunn said: "It's enormously frustrating for me.

"Is Tier three a possibility? I think the answer to that is yes, yes it is. Particularly in Northampton as we have the larger part of the population of the county and our rates are high.

"At this point in time, in terms of restaurants being open and all the other restrictions that we don't have as a result of being in Tier Two, we are knocking on the door of tier three.

"One. of the aspects that illustrates that is increasing infection rates, so yes that is enormously frustrating for me.

"I know if we move up to tier Three we would put restrictions on people that I think we would all find really really hard to cope with.

"Please please please act as carefully as you can. Let's keep out of Tier Three, let's get our rates in Northampton back below the national average."