Could London be put into a second coronavirus lockdown?
As London residents make use of the summer sunshine, the question of whether there will be a second coronavirus lockdown is never far out of mind for locals.
The number of English towns and cities that have been plunged into local lockdown has grown steadily over the past two months, while the capital has begun to get into a post-lockdown groove.
Can this period of freedom last for Londoners or is a second lockdown inevitable?
Current local lockdowns in place
Leicester was the first city to be put into a local lockdown, after the government began to ease national restrictions months ago.
Leicester was put into lockdown at the start of July, after its coronavirus infection rate increased by 944 people in the week before 30 June – three-times higher than the next closest city during that period.
Restrictions on a host of other towns and cities followed, before Greater Manchester also was forced into its own local lockdown.
Up to 4m people are now living with coronavirus restrictions in Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire alone.
Before the Open newsletter: Start your day with the City View podcast and key market data
The government has consistently said it would act swiftly to impose regional restrictions if it sees Covid-19 cases spike.
As of 7 August, the regions currently under watch for a potential local lockdown by Public Health England are:
- Blackburn with Darwen
- Leicester
- Oldham
- Bradford
- Hyndburn (Lancashire)
- Rochdale
- Pendle (Lancashire)
- Trafford
- Calderdale
- Kirklees
- Manchester
- Bolton
- Salford
- Burnley (Lancashire)
- Tameside
- Stockport
- Bury
- Wigan
- Rossendale
- Oadby and Wigston (Leicestershire)
- Luton
- Swindon
- Eden (Cumbria)
- Sandwell
- Northampton (Northamptonshire)
- Peterborough
- Wakefield
- Preston
- Bedford
Have coronavirus rates risen in London?
As of 10 August, there have been 36,355 total cases of coronavirus in London. That represents a little more than 10 per cent of the country’s total population.
The number of active cases in the capital is far lower than at the peak of the crisis. But infection rates are beginning to climb in some boroughs.
London’s R number, which indicates how many people somebody with coronavirus will infect for London could be as high as 1.1. That means the virus could be spreading across London since lockdown was eased.
The London boroughs with the most coronavirus cases as of 11 August were Croydon, Ealing, Bromley and Barnet.
These figures reportedly forced the government to consider a so-called “M25 lockdown” earlier this month, which would have seen restrictions placed on the capital.
The Sunday Times reported that this could potentially include telling people over the age of 50 to stay inside and to ban travel in and out of Greater London, with the M25 as a border point.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan still hit out at the government, shortly after reports emerged, for not being involved in the contingency planning for a London lockdown.
“Our surprise is that such far-reaching contingency plans have been discussed and tested without the involvement or awareness of London’s government,” he said.
“This is clearly totally unacceptable and an affront to London and Londoners.”
What is the government saying about a potential London lockdown?
Business minister Nadhim Zahawi was quick to deflect attention away from reports of a potential London lockdown, saying that the media reports were “inaccurate”.
However, Zahawi did not deny that there was a chance of such a lockdown happening in the future.
“We will follow how the virus is behaving and how it is being transmitted between people and then act accordingly,” he said
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman also reiterated the government’s line in early August that it would be prepared to impose restrictions anywhere at any time.
“We are prepared to take very localised action – you’ve even seen specific pubs closed and actions taken to close individual hospitals or GP surgeries,” he said.