the times | Tuesday July 21 2020 2GM 13
News
Blackburn with Darwen has overtaken
Leicester as England’s coronavirus hot-
spot, with cases almost doubling.
The official figures emerged as
hundreds of mourners who attended a
funeral at a mosque were told to self-
isolate after an imam tested positive for
the virus.
In the week to last Friday, the
Lancashire authority recorded an
infection rate of 79.2 cases per 100,000.
Cases in Leicester have fallen to a rate
of 77.7 per 100,000.
When Leicester went into lockdown
the infection rate was 135 cases per
100,000 — significantly higher than
the current rate in Blackburn with Dar-
wen. Some of the restrictions in the
Midlands city remain in place.
Dominic Harrison, public health
director of Blackburn with Darwen
council, told the BBC yesterday that a
local lockdown would be “a very, very
last resort”. He said: “We’ve had good
co-operation, so I would be very reluc-
tant to use the powers.”
Last week the authority drew up its
own guidelines for residents, which
included advice to people to wear
facemasks in all public places.
Professor Harrison said last week
that he had expected cases to rise
because of increased testing. Repeating
the point yesterday, he said that he ex-
pected a further rise this week.
It emerged that 250 people who
attended a funeral at a mosque have
been told to self-isolate after the imam
who conducted the service tested
positive. The Jamia Ghosia mosque in
Blackburn held the funeral on July 13
despite government rules that restrict
mourners to 30 people.
Police have said that they are aware
of the incident but that it was a matterNHS contact tracers told
to make even fewer calls
Billy Kenber, Chris Smyth
Tom KnowlesNHS contact tracers have cut back on
their attempts to reach coronavirus
patients and their contacts amid con-
cern that people assumed they were
being targeted by nuisance calls.
The NHS Test & Trace service seeks
to identify and contact all those who
have been diagnosed with Covid-19 or
been in close contact with someone
who has in order to prevent a second
wave of cases.
Last week clinical staff running the
service were issued new guidance that
limited attempts to reach those who
had not yet been traced to three or four
calls a day at different times of day. It
also extended the period of time in
which tracers will try to reach someone
from 72 hours to 96 hours.
Baroness Harding of Winscombe,
the Tory peer who heads the test-and-
trace programme, and Matt Hancock,
the health secretary, have previously
said that tracers tried to contact people
up to ten times during a 24-hour period.
The Department of Health said that
it had not changed its guidance but
could not explain why call handlers had
been told to call less often.
Official figures show that the contacttracing system has slowed, with only 71
per cent of people who have come into
contact with a known coronavirus
patient reached and asked to isolate.
Tracers suggested the change to call
volumes was because people had be-
lieved they were unwanted marketing
calls. They have now been told to give
the service’s 0300 phone number when
leaving a voicemail and to instruct
those they are trying to reach not to
ignore future calls from that number.
One clinical contact tracer said “our
phone number looks like one of those
sales calls type numbers so I think a lot
of people were not answering”.
Jon Ashworth, the shadow health
secretary, said: “Test and trace is cost-
ing the taxpayer £10 billion and is no-
where near the world-beating system
we were promised. Given how crucial
tracing is to Sage easing of lockdown it’s
astonishing callers have been instruct-
ed to call less.”
Mr Hancock promised yesterday
that councils would be given the names
and addresses of everyone who tested
positive for coronavirus in their area.
England’s test-and-trace system has
faced challenges from privacy cam-
paigners who say it broke the law by
failing to complete a key privacy check
before it began.London commuters yesterday, do have a protective effect. They can cut the number of viral droplets that get into airways
Workers are drinking
their way to health crisis
Four in ten households have
been drinking more during the
lockdown, prompting fears that the
pandemic will lead to a surge in
alcohol-related illness. The majority
of furloughed workers and those
who lost their jobs have increased
their intake, a Help4Addiction
survey found. Alcohol sales rose by
43 per cent in the four weeks to
June and the British Medical Journal
has warned that the impact of
pandemic-related alcoholism could
last for a generation.coronavirus in brief
Cancer diagnosis delays
could cost 3,500 lives
Delays in diagnosis owing to Covid-
19 could lead to 3,500 deaths from
breast, bowel, oesophageal and lung
cancers over the next five years. A
fall in people seeing their GP and
fewer referrals for scans could mean
cancer is spotted too late, according
to a study published in The Lancet
Oncology. NHS figures show GPs
made 106,535 urgent cancer referrals
in May, down 47 per cent from May
last year. A spokeswoman for the
NHS said it was taking “urgent
action” to increase cancer testing.Plea to stop fake news
thriving on social media
Fake news about the coronavirus is
being allowed to spread “virulently”
across social media, leading to
attacks on frontline workers and 5G
infrastructure because legislation is
still not in place to regulate it, MPs
have said. A digital, culture, media
and sport select committee report
accuses social media platforms of
using business models from which
hoaxers and the technology giants
gain financially by spreading
misleading content. It urges the
government to name a regulator.Covid has finished us off,
says Q Magazine editor
The music publication Q Magazine
is to close after 34 years. Ted
Kessler, the editor, apologised on
Twitter for the closure and blamed
it on the coronavirus pandemic. The
final edition will be published this
month. Mr Kessler said: “We’ve
been a lean operation for all of my
tenure, employing a variety of ways
to keep our head above water in an
extremely challenging print market.
Covid-19 wiped all that out.” The
Charlatans’ singer Tim Burgess
tweeted that it was “sad news”.News
Lockdown is still last
resort as Blackburn
becomes new hotspot
Charlotte Wace
Northern Correspondent
Kaya Burgessfor the local council to investigate as a
“public health issue”.
It is understood that the mosque had
social distancing measures in place as
well as hand sanitiser and a contact
tracing system for those who attended.
The mosque’s chairman, Mir Zaman,
told the BBC that he believed that there
were no restrictions on the number of
guests if precautions were followed,
and he accepted that they had made a
mistake.
The council leader, Mohammed
Khan, said: “I feel it’s my duty to remind
residents that sadly at the start of this
pandemic three well-known and
well-respected local imams died. There
have been a number of our borough’s
residents who have sadly also lost their
lives due to this virus.”
He said that the deaths should serve
“as a warning about the very real
dangers and the severity of Covid-19”.
Blackburn with Darwen council said
that it was working directly with the
mosque to “establish the full facts”.
Data has shown high infection rates
in the area’s south Asian community,
attributed in part to large families living
in terraced properties.
Local councillors say that the
community should not be stigmatised.
Saima Afzal, a councillor, said: “We
know the facts are there, we are open
about those facts. You go home and you
are caring for a family member, or there
are three or four families living under
one household because of economic
reasons, or financial issues.”
A leaked report stated that the track-
and-trace system had failed to reach
more than half the contacts named in
Blackburn with Darwen. Denise Park,
chief executive of the council, said: “We
are in discussions about how we might
be able to help improve the uptake.”
Rochdale, Bradford and Luton are
also among the top five for current
coronavirus infection rates.ALEX LENTATI/LNPenclosed public spaces such as
shops and on public transport as
well as in the open if social
distancing is difficult. The rules
were introduced when the
lockdown was relaxed in May and
the rules have been extended until
the end of July.
australia
Nationally, the health
department has recommended
wearing masks in areas where new
infections have been recorded. In
the state of Victoria, which forced
nearly five million people into a
partial six-week lockdown on July
9, masks are compulsory. A fine of
AU$200 (£110) can be levied
against those caught without a
face covering.
hong kong
The increase in the number of
infections has prompted the
territory to introduce a fine of
up to HK$5,000 (£510) for people
who refuse to wear a mask on
public transport.
ireland
Legislation that came into force
last week made masks mandatory
on public transport, unless people
can demonstrate “reasonable
cause” not to wear one.