City council warns that Preston's coronavirus cases are on the rise again as local lockdown continues

Preston City Council alerted the city's residents via social media this afternoon (September 3), following consultation with Lancashire's director of public health Dr Sakthi Karunanithi.

The latest spike has led to concerns that the city is not yet ready to lift local lockdown restrictions which came into force on August 7.

The council alert did not provide much in the way of detail and was limited to a graphic intended to illustrate the increase in cases.

"From August 25 to September 1, Preston's incidence rate has fluctuated and has increased to 36.7 per 100,000," tweeted the Council.

A corresponding graphic illustrates that the incidence rate has increased from a low of 19.7 to a new high of 36.7 per 100,000 of the city's population.

Government figures for Preston show that 44 people tested positive in the period between August 25 and September 1, bringing the city's total number of cases to 1,457. The biggest spike occurred on Friday, August 28 when 14 people tested positive.

The latest spike is a cruel setback for the city, after the Council reported a considerable decrease in cases just last week.

In the preceding 10 day period, between August 14 and August 24, the city recorded 47 cases and the Council reported that "the numbers are heading in a positive direction".

Last Friday (August 28), Preston City Council said the "extremely positive" numbers provided a "strong case to have local restrictions lifted". But the Council warned against complacency.

It tweeted: "The numbers are showing a positive trend - we and the Director of Public Health are confident that if we can sustain them, we will have a strong case to have local restrictions lifted.

"The figures are extremely positive and the numbers are heading in a positive direction, but we are not out of the woods yet."

Preston City Council has been approached for further comment.