These are the latest Covid case rates in each area of Preston as the Government warns of tougher restrictions ahead

The Tier 4 lockdown was announced for London and parts of southern and eastern England at the weekend after existing Tier 3 measures proved unable to control the spread of the more infections variant.

Sir Patrick indicated a lockdown may be needed in wider areas of England, particularly as Christmas mixing may result in an increased spread of cases.

At a Downing Street news conference Sir Patrick said: “The evidence on this virus is that it spreads easily, it’s more transmissible, we absolutely need to make sure we have the right level of restrictions in place.

“I think it is likely that this will grow in numbers of the variant across the country and I think it’s likely, therefore, that measures will need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced.”

Given the “inevitable mixing” over Christmas “I think there will be some increases in numbers over the next few weeks”.

In Lancashire, Covid-19 infection rates have climbed ahead of Christmas according to figures, with only one area recording a fall in cases.

Below are the latest figures from Public Health England for the seven days to December 16, 2020. Seven–day rates are expressed per 100,000 population and are calculated by dividing the seven day count by the area population and multiplying by 100,000.

The data includes every area of Preston, with areas that have recorded rate increases listed first from highest to lowest increase, followed by areas where cases are falling in percentage order from lowest to highest. (Images are for illustration purposes only).

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