Preston coronavirus infection rate falls as South Ribble rises and Prime Minister says roadmap out of lockdown remains ‘on track’

Sunshine in Avenham and Miller Park during Tuesday 13 April Pic: Tony Worrall

Preston’s latest coronavirus cases have been confirmed as the Prime Minister continued to urge people to ‘show restraint’ as pub beer gardens and other venues re-opened.

The city saw 19 new coronavirus cases during Tuesday (13 April).

South Ribble was up by five for the same day.

Wyre recorded three new cases, as did Fylde, Chorley was up by five and Ribble Valley by three cases.

Preston’s infection rate is 41.9 cases per 100,000 people for the seven days to April 9, down from 77.5 per 100,000 people for the seven days to April 2.

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Data for the most recent four days (April 10-13) has been excluded as it is incomplete and does not reflect the true number of cases.

South Ribble infection rate is 46.9, up from 37 for the same two date periods as Preston.

Wyre’s now at 9.8, down from 12.5 and Fylde is now at 22.3, up from 14.9.

Ribble Valley dropped to 21.4, down from 39.4 and Chorley dropped to 40.6, down from 67.7.

Boris Johnson says no plans to change the roadmap out of lockdown

The Prime Minister has warned that the easing of lockdown restrictions will “inevitably” lead to more infections and deaths as the NHS moved to the next stage of vaccine rollout by inviting people aged between 45 and 50 to book an appointment.

The PM urged people to continue to “exercise restraint” as beer gardens were packed and shoppers flocked to high streets after the latest round of the Government’s coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England on Monday.

Mr Johnson said that although vaccines had helped, lockdown restrictions had done “the bulk of the work” in reducing Covid-19 infections.

The start of “Phase 2” of the vaccination programme, which involves offering vaccines to healthy adults aged under 50, came after the Government met its target of offering the vaccine to all those in the highest risk groups.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) insisted Johnson & Johnson’s decision to delay the rollout of its vaccine in Europe would not derail the UK’s programme to offer a jab to all adults by the end of July.

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The UK has 30 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson product on order, but it has yet to be authorised for use by the independent Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Johnson said: “It’s great that we have managed to achieve the target of getting everyone in the one to nine (priority) groups vaccinated by the deadline, by the timetable – a little bit ahead actually, 32 million people now have got their first dose, which is terrific.

“We are going now to the 45-49 group, they are being asked to come forward.”

But he added: “Of course the vaccination programme has helped, but the bulk of the work in reducing the disease has been done by the lockdown.

“So, as we unlock, the result will inevitably be that we will see more infection, sadly we will see more hospitalisation and deaths.

“People have just got to understand that.”

Mr Johnson said there were no plans at present to change the road map out of lockdown. The next “waymarks” on England’s plan to ease restrictions are due on May 17 and June 21.

“But it is very, very important that, if we are to get there in the way that we all want, people continue to be cautious and they continue to exercise restraint and just do the basic things to stop the spread of the virus – washing your hands, giving people plenty of space, doing things in fresh air,” he added.