Greater Manchester declares major incident over rising Covid-19 rates

Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, urged residents to stay calm after public service leaders decided to increase their readiness as they grapple with the escalating coronavirus transmission rates in the region.

“People should not be alarmed that a major incident has been declared,” Sir Richard said.

The Labour politician called the move “standard practice for complex situations” and said it would allow a “central command structure” to be created to enable agencies to “draw on extra resources”.

The decision to declare a major incident was taken by the Strategic Coordination Group on the weekend after they met to discuss the increased lockdown restrictions announced last week across parts of the North West.

The new measures forbid people from different households from meeting each other inside their homes or in gardens, while also banning separate households from mixing in pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues.

Out of the top 20 worst affected local authority areas for Covid-19 infections in England, Greater Manchester boroughs – home to almost 3 million people – comprise more than a third of the list, with seven entries.

Oldham, the second worst affected borough in the country, recorded a seven-day infection rate rise from 41.6 to 62.8 per 100,000 people, with 148 new cases reported in the past week.

It comes as Chancellor Rishi Sunak heralded the start of the Treasury’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme – an offer of half-price meals during August in order to entice people out of their stay-at-home lockdown habits and into restaurants and pubs again after the hospitality sector was badly hit by the pandemic.

Some 80% of hospitality firms stopped trading in April, with 1.4 million workers furloughed – the highest of any sector – according to Government data.

The incentive will reduce bills by 50% for all eat-in meals ordered between Monday and Wednesday this month at 72,000 participating establishments, including chains such as McDonalds, Nando’s and Prezzo.

The discount per person will be capped at £10 and does not apply to alcohol.

Mr Sunak said: “Our Eat Out to Help Out scheme’s number one aim is to help protect the jobs of 1.8 million chefs, waiters and restaurateurs by boosting demand and getting customers through the door.