Coronavirus: 'Local action helped stop Stoke-on-Trent lockdown'

Matt Hancock said he welcomed the fact the rate of cases in the city was now falling

A combination of national support and local action saved Stoke-on-Trent from a full lockdown, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

The city was added to the coronavirus watchlist last week as an area of concern.

But the number of cases in the week up to Friday was down to 41, from 77 the previous week.

Mr Hancock said he was "very grateful" to Stoke-on-Trent residents for "responding as positively as they did".

Speaking in the Commons, he stated they responded "to what were challenging circumstances, which… at one moment… looked like it might lead to a local, a full… local lockdown".

But he added that did not "have to happen because Stoke-on-Trent got in there fast and acted".

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In the Normacot area of the city, where a cluster of infections was recorded, a community testing station was set up.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council leader Abi Brown said they were able to act quickly based on "detailed data" which identified an increase in cases "in a very concentrated area of the city, a matter of a handful of streets."

"The response from the community has been incredibly responsible - we advised residents not to mix household-to-household, as the data showed this is how cases had been transmitted, and to stay at home where possible," she added.

Faith leaders "acted swiftly" and voluntarily closed two mosques for two weeks.

In Stoke-on-Trent, the rate of cases per 100,000 people in the week up to Friday was 16, down from 30 in the previous week.

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