Police boss says it's 'odds-on' Northampton will go into local lockdown if people don't change their behaviour

The county's leading police officer has given a stark warning to the people of Northampton over their behaviour around Covid-19.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley said that he believes the town is teetering at around ten or eleven on a coronavirus risk scale of 14.

During recent weeks, several special measures have been imposed on people in the town following serious concerns about rising infection rates of the virus.

Speaking as part of a Facebook Live Q&A session this evening (Thursday, August 6) Mr Adderley asked local people to obey instructions from health chiefs.

He said: "On a scale of zero to 14 we're hovering around the ten to eleven mark on that.

"If we don't get this under control quickly then the chances are we will go into some form of local lockdown.

"If you ask me to put money on it, I think it's odds-on that in the next six months if we do not start to do something different we'll be teetering on the edge of that."

Mr Adderley said that he would be speaking to policing minister Kit Malthouse in the morning to discuss how his force would police the county in case of a local lockdown. But he is under no illusions that it will be an easy task.

"There aren't enough of us," said Mr Adderley. "There aren't enough (people) in health authorities and other agencies."

He asked local people to listen carefully and to do what they were being asked by Northamptonshire public health bosses.

"The fact is that Northampton in particular but also the county is now susceptible to a second spike," he said.

"Please take the precautions, follow the rules.

"A second spike would be catastrophic not only for economy but for the people of this county."