Coronavirus: Nottingham has highest Covid infection rate in UK

Nottingham has the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the UK, according to the latest data.

Public Health England figures show that 689.1 per 100,000 people tested positive for the virus in the city over the past week.

New social distancing rules for Nottinghamshire are due to be announced on Monday, according to documents leaked earlier today.

Local politicians have criticised the delay in imposing restrictions.

Nottingham City Council leader David Mellen said he had expected government restrictions to be "imposed this week".

He claimed people in Nottingham were "victims of a government change of approach" and he feared residents might treat this weekend as "the last chance before Christmas" to "go out and party".

He called on the government to "act urgently and decisively or, better still, give us the powers to let us get on with taking action ourselves".

The leaked documents indicate people can still go on holiday outside of Nottinghamshire but only with people from their own household or support bubble.

Households would still be able to meet indoors if they are in a support bubble.

Nottinghamshire is expected to go into level two of a new "three-tier" system next week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

People in Nottinghamshire have already been asked to avoid mixing with other households indoors following the "dramatic" rise in cases.

Bars and restaurants could be forced to close as the government prepares to tighten restrictions for the worst affected areas of England.

It follows the announcement similar outlets across central Scotland are to be closed for 16 days.

Mr Mellen said: "There is a chance this weekend that people will think, 'This might be my last chance before Christmas, so let's go out and party' - we can't have that."

Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood has called the delay to introducing measures in Nottingham "reckless and indefensible".

She added: "It's outrageous that [MPs] only found out about this decision from the media."

The infection rate for the city increased from 407 cases per 100,000 in the week up to 28 September, to a total number of 2,294.

Earlier the county council said the rate of infection for the county is 106 per 100,000, a lot lower than the rate in Nottingham.

Ben Bradley, MP for Mansfield - which has a much lower infection rate of 62.2 - called on the government to reconsider blanket restrictions for the whole of the county.

The Conservative politician added: "It would be really frustrating to have restrictions imposed when, locally, we might not need them."

Dr Keith Girling, medical director at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, said there had been a "significant increase in admissions" over the past three or four days, but "more towards the numbers we had in May and June".

He added there were a "very small number" of patients in intensive care with coronavirus.

Jo Cox-Brown, founder of Night Time Economy, which works with businesses and local authorities to create safer nights out in English cities, said further restrictions could have a devastating effect on jobs.

"[Businesses] are terrified. The night-time economy is worth 14,000 jobs in Nottingham alone," she said.

"They were closed for three months, they have been trading for two months but at 50-75% of normal occupancy levels, so financially these venues are on their knees."

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has refused to say whether pubs and restaurants in the north and in Nottingham will be forced to close.

He said: "We are currently considering what steps we should take, obviously taking the advice of our scientific and medical advisers, and a decision will be made shortly."

Asked if there will be an announcement linked to the hospitality industry, he said: "We are considering the evidence. In some parts of the country, the number of cases are rising very fast and we are taking that very seriously."

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