Covid: Enforcement 'won't solve coronavirus problem'

Council bosses say restrictions need to be decided upon locally

A public health boss has said increased enforcement will not control a rise in coronavirus cases.

Gateshead Council Director of Public Health Alice Wiseman said numbers were still increasing in the area but the rate appeared to be slowing down.

Closing pubs would have the "unintended consequence" of people socialising in homes "where social distancing will be much more difficult", she said.

"I honestly don't believe that we can enforce our way out of this problem."

Pubs could be closed as part of a three-tier system, due to be announced on Monday.

Communities had had "a really tough few weeks" with local restrictions introduced and then changed twice already, Ms Wiseman said.

Newcastle's public health director, Prof Eugene Milne, also said "chopping and changing" rules made confusion about them worse.

He also pointed out the city's case numbers were affected by the "still containable" outbreak among university students.

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Both Ms Wiseman and Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston have called for lockdown decisions to be made by local councils.

This would allow for "nuanced" plans more likely to work in the local area, Ms Wiseman said.

"We need to bring communities with us," she said.

"Health inequalities that leave Middlesbrough's population vulnerable to Covid" needed to be understood, Mr Preston said.

Newcastle had the fifth-highest rate of Covid-19 in the country over the past week with 516.1 cases per 100,000, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Gateshead had 240 per 100,000 and Middlesbrough 270.3.