Britain could face localized lockdowns

British Home Secretary Priti Patel has confirmed that the English city of Leicester may become the first place in the United Kingdom to be the subject of a localized lockdown as the country tries to navigate its way out of restrictions on movement and activity caused by the novel coronavirus.

Around one-quarter of the city's 2,494 confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases were reported in the two weeks leading up to June 16, and when questioned about reports in the Sunday Times newspaper about the possibility of localized restrictions, Patel said that until the results of data testing came back, it could not be ruled out.

"I don't think that is an immediate prospect," she told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show. "After many weeks of asking, we now have that data and we are analyzing it over this weekend, and hopefully early next week we will know whether we have a problem and if we have, where it is.

"With local flare-ups, it is right we have a local solution", she added.

The news came on the day that Johns Hopkins University in the United States, one of the world's leading monitoring sources for the outbreak, reported that the total number of cases of COVID-19 worldwide had passed 10 million, with around 500,000 deaths confirmed so far.

Leicester, in the East Midlands region, has a population of around 600,000 people. The city's mayor, Peter Soulsby, said it would have been "far better" if testing rates in the city had been greater.

"Leicester is a large urban area … with many neighborhoods and communities within it ... It's only really if we know whether there is an issue, and where it might be, we can decide what if anything we need to do," he said.

The city is one of the most ethnically diverse in the country, and the member of Parliament for Leicester East, Claudia Webbe said this, combined with poverty and positive test numbers, had created a "perfect storm" for measures to be put in place.

"I don't know why they're not enforcing a lockdown - the evidence suggests there should be one," she said.

Nick Phin, incident director for Public Health England, said what was happening in Leicester was "concerning" and that specific action might be necessary. "We understand that tighter restrictions in Leicester will be difficult," he said, "but it's important that we all play our part to contain this local outbreak".

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she felt "enormous" relief on Sunday as for the third day in a row, the country recorded no new coronavirus deaths, but overall, the UK's total death toll now stands at 43,550.

News of the first potential local lockdown in the UK came as police were called in to deal with more large public gatherings in South London.

Dispersal zones were put in place at Clapham Common and Tooting Bec Common after illegal street parties caused what police described as "significant disruptions" on Saturday night.

"These events are unlawful, they are unregulated and we will take a very firm position against them," said Metropolitan Police Commander Bas Javid.

Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands David Jamieson told the Observer newspaper that the potential for public disorder around the loosening of lockdown has been "brushed away" by Home Office Minister Kit Malthouse at a meeting last week.

"The issue was raised and it is total madness, we all know it's madness. Some of his (Malthouse's) Conservative colleagues raised it as well, particularly those on the coast," he said.

Another warning of the potential long-term consequences of lockdown has come from the education sector, with the former head of the government's schools inspectorate Michael Wilshaw telling Sky News that mishandling of the situation could lead to violence.

"The consequences for youngsters, particularly those from poor backgrounds, the consequences for our society and for our education system is going to be profound, and we need to recognize that," he said.

"Everyone involved in education needs to recognize that and put in large-scale recovery and remedial programmes to make sure that the great gains that we've made over the last few years are not lost.

"If that doesn't happen then we will go backwards. And there will be all sorts of problems in terms of social unrest, violence amongst young people that we've not seen before."

Meanwhile, a week before the blanket ban on non-essential travel from the UK is to be relaxed, travel companies say they have experienced an "explosion" in bookings for overseas trips.

Andrew Flintham, managing director of TUI UK and Ireland, said bookings had gone up 50 percent over the course of a week, with Spain and Greece the most popular destinations, while Lastminute.com said its holiday sales had risen by 80 percent.

The list of permitted destinations for UK visitors to visit without the need for quarantine also includes France, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Turkey and Germany, but not Sweden or Portugal.