Residents warned about ‘enhanced restrictions’ to curb spread of coronavirus

Town Hall chiefs are currently holding a Covid-19 leadership briefing for residents amid a surge in confirmed cases in the borough.

Cllr Bowden, chief executive Steven Broomhead and director of public health Thara Raj are explaining the authority’s approach to tackling the virus.

Mr Broomhead said: “There are rumours of further restrictions coming in for Warrington and possibly other surrounding areas.

“We have no information on that yet but what we’ve seen today in the North East of England, a series of restrictions have been brought in for that area.”

He added that the council is awaiting a further announcement ‘very, very shortly’, as to what the further restrictions ‘may be for Warrington’.

Cllr Bowden told residents the matter could be taken out of the council’s hands if the rate of increase can’t be stemmed and that things could move ‘very rapidly’.

He added that there could be some ‘enhanced restrictions’ in the coming days.

Cllr Russ Bowden

Residents were also told Warrington’s outbreak is above the national interest ‘threshold’.

On Monday, public health leaders urged residents not to visit other households to curb the spread of coronavirus and to help avoid a local lockdown.

The briefing comes amid growing concerns over the town’s coronavirus testing capacity.

Ms Raj labelled the situation as ‘difficult’ and said it is a national issue.

She said: “We have escalated it.”

Ms Raj confirmed the council is working with Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to try and work out a ‘small scale solution’ to help manage outbreaks.

“We are hopeful of a solution, we are hopeful national colleagues will come up with a solution that we can work with,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ms Raj said if Warrington is going to hear something about a local lockdown that 'it sounds like we’ve done something wrong', but told residents 'I don’t see that'.

She added that she sees 'what we have potentially are control measures to manage' the spread of infections – and emphasised the importance of 'thinking of them as additional control measures'

Mr Broomhead confirmed the council is working very closely with the town’s two MPs - Andy Carter and Charlotte Nichols - to recognise the need for a proper economic recovery for borough.

He urged people to ‘spend money locally’ as that helps ‘greatly’, adding that he believes ‘we will come through this’.

Cllr Bowden said Government support has been 'really, really important' and 'absolutely crucial' to keep businesses afloat.

But he admitted he is ‘seriously concerned’ about the implications of stopping furlough overnight and called for a more 'creative approach', as he fears there is a risk of people going from furlough straight to redundancy.