Ministers met on Tuesday to discuss emergency plans that could see local lockdown restrictions being imposed in Indian Covid variant “hotspots”, with Boris Johnson saying that things will be clearer in “days“. But the Leader of Bolton Council has warned that there is a “danger of unrest” if local restrictions are used in the area. Sky News has the story.
David Greenhalgh, a Conservative and head of the local authority, said that previous implementations of the coronavirus measures were ineffective in the region.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Greenhalgh was asked if it was true he had warned Health Secretary Matt Hancock about civil unrest in the event of local Covid restrictions.
The councillor said: “I do think there is a danger of unrest.
“There was a great deal of resentment. Bolton was… disproportionately affected, really since July last year, and even when our rates were coming down, we still remained in lockdown when other areas rates were higher than ours.”
Bolton is currently one of the hotspots of the Indian variant of the coronavirus.
Cases have doubled in the last week, and 19 people are in hospital, according to Mr Hancock.
Mr Greenhalgh added: “We are putting all the measures in that we can at the moment. We have community spread, there’s no doubt about that, and we’re holding back a variant that would appear – although the evidence is still being gathered – to be a little bit more transmissible, easily transmissible.
“The majority of our cases are in very much our younger age groups – primary school, secondary school and in their 20s.
“We still haven’t got an increase in hospitalisation and severe illness, which is hugely welcome, those figures still remain low.”
As Will Jones highlighted in an earlier post, the number of Covid cases in Bolton – as well as in Blackburn with Darwen, another Indian variant hotspot – already seems to be flattening.
The Sky News report is worth reading in full.
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19 people in hospital.
That’s it – we’re doomed.
Oh my God.
Blimey, have they cut more hospital beds?
This is the ninth consecutive week that deaths have been lower than the five-year average in England. ONS. Johnson and Hancock are lying evil **** and need to be stopped. Can’t believe what this country has come to
“Stop a Bolton Lockdown”.
Don’t get tested?
Unrest?. A tale from history. When Henry 8th had trouble (rebellion) up north he sent in the troops to sort them out. It was a bloody end for the rebellious. Johnson and his cohorts have not got the guts, they will take the knee…. LOL,LOL
Last year’s ruddy well been a wasting of the north. Remember that map (on LS) from last year dividing Britain into three areas (f*****, a bit dodgy, safe). Bring on the “unrest”!
Good. Hope there is unrest.
Good. The more unrest the better. There damn well should be.
Refusing house arrest for a non-crime is now unrest…
Staying in the house owing to government-inspired terror is a quaver rest.
Don’t understand?!
If Bolton was such a hotspot last year, you’d think there was a greater degree of HI. on the other hand, a positive PCR doesn’t rule out recovery from a recent (i.e <80 days ago) infection, I suppose.
Well this could be very interesting. If we see civil unrest from ethnic groups, how will plod respond? Will BBC et al report it? I’m getting the popcorn…
If there is civil unrest from ethnic groups the BBC will present it as being against white privilege rather than against lockdown. Plod will take the knee.
Go it, Boltonians. Be unresful. Fight the Fascists. Be free.
I wonder which group will be most vocal in multicultural Boulton?
Let them all just SHOUT, in whatever language or idiom they prefer, but LOUDLY.
Yeees! Finally! Bring on the unrest… this pandemic might just have a hollywood ending
Je suis Bolton
Ich bin ein Boltonier.
Ich auch – wir müssen zusammen halten!
Or even a bollywood ending……
“Cases have doubled in the last week, and 19 people are in hospital, according to Mr Hancock.”
If they were hospitalised because of covid the mendacious Handoncock would say so.
19 people. Duckin hell.
19?
Duckin hell!
Quackers!
“The Sky News report is worth reading in full.”
Of course it’s bloody well not. It’s all about mythological garbage – Scary Fairy ‘variants’ and ‘cases’ etc.
Seen it umpteen times before.. Now bin it.
SKY is never worth reading or watching at all.
Sky Oz is better
This has to STOP!
So these school children and young people, are they actually ill with symptoms?
Now i can t speak for all, but in my area, v/close to blackburn, its driven by pos test in schools.
We should keep a very close eye on that claim that ‘cases are among primary, secondary school (pupils) and 20’s’ and the people making that claim.
If true that would actually be cause for genuine concern as it would mark a fundamental change in the nature of the virus but somehow I doubt it.
The heatmap on https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/ shows the age of positive test results.
Almost certainly not. For about a hundred years until 2020, ‘cases’ meant someone who was ill, with symptoms of a disease. Now a ‘case’ means someone who has ‘tested positive’ with a PCR test (invented by a scientist who said it should never be used to diagnose) and will in most cases not be ill in any way at all.
Has anyone checked the covid situation in India? The “variant wave” is swiftly declining and recoveries soar. Only yesterday they reported 380,000 recoveries vs 280,000 new cases. Recoveries are more than 2 mil. in the last week. India had a very high percentage of over 50% in latest serology surveys and may have already reached herd immunity. A silent mute of new cases is expected in the weeks to come.
The Spectator Covid Tracker site updates daily & shows that in all regions of India the number of new positive tests is falling.
The Spectator Covid Tracker | National | The Spectator
… and, of course, the actual mortality rate in India remains below the world average (if you even accept the data in general) – and way, way below the rate accrued in the UK by Johnson’s government.
… and the ‘upsurge’ seems – again – to the deployment of ‘vaccines’.
Indeed.
Thick line = infections. Thin line = deaths.
And in comparison to the UK (data adjusted for population).
UK = Green. India = Blue.
Modelled active infections. Data up to today based on infections and deaths, data after today modelled.