Coronavirus: Government urged to lift Wigan lockdown

The Greater Manchester restrictions began on 2 August

Greater Manchester council leaders are writing to the Secretary of State for Health calling for Covid-19 restrictions in Wigan to be eased.

Metro Mayor Andy Burnham said all 10 council leaders were "unanimous" in their decision as Wigan's infection rate was now 9.4 per 100,000 people.

"We very much hope the government will accept what we've said," he added.

The current restrictions imposed on 31 July ban separate households in Wigan from meeting each other at home.

Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), is made up of ten councils - Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan.

Its leaders are proposing that all boroughs, excluding Oldham, which continues to see higher rates of transmission, will see some restrictions eased and rules about meeting with other households indoors or in their gardens should be lifted completely in Wigan, the Local Democracy Reporting Service says.

The infection rate across Greater Manchester for the week ending 15 August was 35.3 per 100,000 of the population, but in boroughs it ranged from Wigan's figures to 83.1 in Oldham.

Mr Burnham said: "We've always said there is an interconnected way of life in Greater Manchester , but when the cases are in single figures and not rising, it is right to relax the restrictions there."

The lockdown rules ban members of two different households from mixing in pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues, but those businesses are permitted to remain open for those visiting individually or from the same household.