Coronavirus: ‘Major incident’ declared in Greater Manchester as infection rates rise

City mayor calls on government to reimpose shielding advice across region

A major incident has been declared in Greater Manchester in a bid to tackle a rise in coronavirus infection rates.

The decision was announced three days after health secretary Matt Hancock imposed local lockdowns across the region.

Greater Manchester Police’s assistant chief constable Nick Bailey said the move would help local agencies reduce the number of new cases.

Mr Bailey, who is also chairman of the Local Resilience Forum, ​added that it followed a meeting this weekend to discuss the new restrictions announced on Thursday.

He said: “Recognising that there are multiple localities across Greater Manchester seeing rises in infection rates, the group reviewed learning from other recent areas, including Leicester, and its own learning from across the partnership and have taken the decision to declare this a major incident in order to respond as effectively as possible.

“This will enable us to maximise the capability of agencies across Greater Manchester, including additional resources if required, to instigate a prompt and positive change in direction.

“It is part of our desire to protect the population of Greater Manchester and provide them with the highest levels of assurance that agencies are doing all they can to reduce infection rates and bring Greater Manchester back to as near a state of normality as current times allow.”

Greater Manchester boroughs make up seven of the top 20 worst affected local authority areas for Covid-19 infections in England.

Oldham, the second worst affected borough in the country, has seen its seven-day rate jump from 41.6 to 62.8 per 100,000 people, with 148 new cases reported in the past week.

The boroughs of Trafford, Tameside, Rochdale and Stockport, along with the cities of Manchester and Salford, also feature among the 20 worst-hit areas.

Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, told the Manchester Evening News that people “should not be alarmed” by the announcement of a major incident.

“This is standard practice for complex situations which require a multi-agency response,” he said.

“Although the council and partner organisations have been working closely to tackle the impacts of the pandemic since early this year, declaring a major incident means we can ramp this up further.

“It allows the establishment of a central command structure to oversee the response and enables agencies involved to draw on extra resources.

“Following last week’s government announcement of preventative public health measures across Greater Manchester to address rising numbers of Covid-19 cases, the public would expect us to give this situation our concerted collective attention. That, with a view to enabling these restrictions to be lifted as soon as possible, is exactly what we are doing.”

Writing in the Sunday Mirror before the announcement, Labour mayor for Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said people in the area “on the whole” had been brilliant at adhering to the new rules and rejected “efforts to blame some for breaking lockdown rules”.

The comments follow a claim made by Tory MP Craig Whittaker, whose West Yorkshire seat of Calder Valley was one of the areas affected by the fresh lockdown measures, that it was the “Bame (black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities that are not taking this seriously enough”.

While the new regulations for Blackburn with Darwen and Bradford – the area with the highest Covid rate in England – were published on Friday, those for Greater Manchester are not expected to be published until this week.

Mr Burnham has said restrictions will be reviewed on a weekly basis.

He also called on the government to reinstate the shielding guidance which ended on 1 August.

“Failure to do so is wrong and inhumane,” he said on Sunday afternoon, urging for the policy to restart again from Monday morning.

Meanwhile, former England midfielder Paul Scholes has been accused of holding a party at his Oldham home to celebrate his son’s 21st on the same day lockdown measures were reimposed across parts of the North West.

The Sun cited phone footage as showing revellers ignored social distancing “as they drank and danced” at the seven-hour party on Friday. The tabloid quoted Tory MP Andrew Bridgen criticising Scholes for “reckless behaviour”.

Greater Manchester Police said they attended the property and encouraged those present to “be compliant” with the newly imposed restrictions.