Cheshire West and Chester Council have reported that the borough could be put under tighter coronavirus restrictions by next week, if the government decide that it is necessary to curb the rise in cases.

Earlier this week, the Council sent a letter to ministers asking that they consider introducing new rules on household mixing, in order to prevent infections rising to meet the rate in neighbouring Warrington (180 per 100,000 of the population) and Liverpool (288 per 100,000).

In Cheshire West, coronavirus cases have risen from 8 per 100,000 on 1st August and 11.5 per 100,000 on 1st September, to 55 per 100,000 on Monday and 69 per 100,000 today.

Most affected people are in the 20-39 age bracket, but infections are also creeping up among the over-50s.

This has caused the government to mark the borough as an 'area of concern' on its Covid-19 watch-list.

At a meeting of the Outbreak Board today, Council Chief Executive, Andrew Lewis, said that ministers usually discuss the possibility of regional restrictions with Chief Medical Officers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

This means that they could potentially announce new rules for Cheshire West and Chester by the end of next week.

In the Countess of Chester, 10 beds are occupied by Covid patients, with two of those being admitted to the high-dependency unit. Meanwhile, Mid Cheshire Hospitals Trust has coronavirus patients in 13 of its beds, and another two are now the high-dependency unit.

A recent government Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) study, which randomly tested people for Covid-19, found that 0.55% of the UK population has the virus, although many of those infected will not show symptoms.

However, in the North West, the rate was found to be 0.86% of the population, which equates to over 2,000 people in our borough who may have coronavirus at any one time.

Tighter restrictions have already been introduced in the Liverpool City Region, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesborough, where it will be illegal to meet indoors in places such as pubs from 00:01 on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Councils in Wrexham, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Conwy have made it illegal for residents to travel outside their home county without a valid reason.

Even if the government do not impose new lockdown measures in Cheshire West and Chester, the Council hope it will offer support for increased testing and contact tracing in our area.

Currently, the number of coronavirus tests being administered in the borough is falling, while infections increase. Two new testing sites are set to open in Winsford and Northwich later this month.

The Council's Regulatory Services Manager, Vanessa Griffiths, has also advocated more stringent enforcement of self-isolation requirements, as reports surface of certain people flouting the rules.

Her team are therefore working in conjunction with the police to carry out spot-check visits to the homes of individuals within the borough who have been told to isolate after being in contact with an infected person.

To watch the full meeting webcast, click here.