Health and council chiefs set to explain latest Covid-19 situation across Northamptonshire

Health chiefs have called a 3pm media conference on Friday to explain reasons for imposing extra coronavirus restrictions across county.

Public Health Northamptonshire issued a statement last night claiming "Increasing rates of Covid-19 across several districts and boroughs in Northamptonshire" had forced them to take action.

Lucy Wightman, Director of Public Health in Northamptonshire said: “The county is experiencing increasing rates of infection, particularly across Northampton, Corby and Kettering.

"We must all act to reduce the transmission of the virus and we have taken this decision to reduce the risks associated with large gatherings.

“We are taking extra precautions in Northampton currently, to avoid a local lockdown scenario.”

FOLLOW THIS AFTERNOON'S PRESS CONFERENCE ON OUR LIVE BLOG FROM 3pm.Sports events with more than two teams are banned for a fortnight in a bid to slow the killer bug's spread.

Testing in the county has been ramped up with walk-in units in Northampton and Kettering town centres "until further notice" alongside drive-through facilities in Northampton, Corby, Daventry.

Specific guidance advising Northampton residents to limit contact with others from outside their own households — especially indoors — avoid car-sharing and public transport without face masks; and not to share items with anyone outside of your 'bubble' was issued more than a week ago after Public Health England highlighted the town as an "area of concern."

Yet all this has happened against a backdrop on falls in the number of new cases in towns and around the county, leaving many confused as to the real situation.

Thursday's latest government figures showed a total of 14 new positive tests recorded in Northamptonshire up to 9am on Thursday — 11 in Northampton, two in East Northamptonshire district and one in Corby.

HERE'S THE ADVICE YOU NEED TO FOLLOW IN AND AROUND NORTHAMPTONNo new cases have been reported in Kettering since Sunday (July 26), according to the Government's Covid-19 Data Dashboard. Corby has registered six new cases since Thursday (July 23).

Northampton saw 54 new cases reported in the week to July 30 compared to 58 in each of the two previous weeks. The rate of infection fell from 26.36 to 24.54 per 100,000 of the population per week over the same period.

Public Health England experts take into account a string of other factors — including, links between localised outbreaks, recent regional trends and rising infection rates in nearby areas — when producing data for local officials.