Preston’s coronavirus infection rate is 11th highest in England as government unveils the hotel bill quarantining travellers will face

Sunrise over the city as the government brings in tough new quarantine rules for international travel from 33 countries Pic: Tony Worrall

Preston’s infection rate is just outside the top 10 highest Covid infection rates in England.

Latest figures from Public Health England show while rates are continuing to fall – the city’s rate remains high in comparison to the national average.

New coronavirus cases recorded for Preston on Tuesday (9 February) were 74.

South Ribble recorded 55 for the same day.

Wyre was up by 12, Ribble Valley just 10 new cases, Chorley recorded 28 and Fylde recorded 16 cases.

See the latest coronavirus cases and information near you

Preston’s Covid-19 infection rate is now 328.4 cases per 100,000 for the seven days to February 5, down from 364 cases per 100,000 people for the seven days to January 29.

Data for the most recent four days (February 6-9) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

This puts Preston in England’s top 20 infection rate areas, at number 11, between Slough on 329 and Ealing on 327.7. The England average infection rate is currently 202.1 for the seven days to February 5.

South Ribble’s infection rate is now 305.1, down from 331.3, for the same two date periods as Preston.

Wyre is at 194.5, down from 243.6 and Fylde is now 201.8, down from 272.3.

Ribble Valley is now 192.2, down from 279.2 and Chorley’s rate is now 214.9, down from 247.9.

Quarantine bill confirmed for international travellers

Those arriving in England from 33 ‘red list’ countries for Covid are to be charged for their quarantine hotel stays.

The government has announced they will be billed £1,750 for their stay of 10 days in a government-designated hotel.

Passengers arriving into England face fines of up to £10,000 for failing to quarantine, and those who lie on their passenger locator forms face up to 10 years in jail.

The Scottish Government said this approach is “not sufficient” so it is requiring all international travellers arriving into Scotland to stay in a quarantine hotel.

No international flights are currently operating to Wales or Northern Ireland.

Mr Hancock indicated the measures might be in place until the autumn if vaccine booster jabs are needed in response to coronavirus variants.

He told the Commons that 16 hotels have been contracted to provide 4,600 rooms for the quarantine programme, which begins on Monday (15 February).

Mr Hancock told the Commons: “People who flout these rules are putting us all at risk.

He added: “I make no apologies for the strength of these measures, because we’re dealing with one of the strongest threats to our public health that we’ve faced as a nation.”

The 33 countries where quarantine will apply from:

Angola
Argentina
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Burundi
Cape Verde
Chile
Colombia
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ecuador
Eswatini
French Guiana
Guyana
Lesotho
Malawi
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores)
Rwanda
Seychelles
South Africa
Suriname
Tanzania
Uruguay
UAE
Venezuela
Zambia
Zimbabwe