Coronavirus: Blackburn police officers isolating after outbreak at retirement party

Mass quarantine will have no impact on day to day policing, Lancashire Constabulary promises

The positive test came after dozens of officers attended a retirement party at Greenbank police station in Blackburn (Google Maps)

A number of police officers in Blackburn have been forced into self-isolation after an outbreak of coronavirus following a retirement party for a colleague.

An unnamed Lancashire Constabulary officer developed symptoms of Covid-19 earlier this month and after taking a test on 21 July was found to be infected with the virus.

The force said the officer had attended a “retirement gathering” at Greenbank Police Station in Blackburn shortly before testing positive.

As a result, a total of 22 officers have now been told to self-isolate in case they too have the virus – nine who attended the original party, and 13 who then had close contact with them – according to the Lancashire Telegraph.

Assistant chief constable Peter Lawson said: “We take the health of both our officers and the communities we serve extremely seriously.

“As soon as we were notified by an officer that they had tested positive for Covid-19 we immediately started tracing their contacts and requiring them to self-isolate.

“I can reassure people that we continue to meet all our minimum staffing levels and there will be no effect on operational policing in the county.”

Blackburn has been the site of one of the UK’s largest coronavirus outbreaks in recent weeks, and falls under the new lockdown measures announced by the government on Thursday evening.

Indoor gatherings between different households are now banned.

Last week the leader of the local council, Mohammed Khan urged the community to “keep up the momentum” in combating the disease as 122 new coronavirus cases were recorded in the seven days to 20 July.

Public Health England (PHE) at the time upgraded Blackburn with Darwen to an “area of intervention” following the increase, which was the highest at local level.

PHE defines such areas as those “where there is divergence from the measures in place in the rest of England because of the significance of the spread, with a detailed action plan in place, and local resources augmented with a national support”.