Boris Johnson is being urgently pushed by northern mayors to publish local rates of Covid transmission - amid fears that dropping the ‘Stay at Home’ message is premature when new cases here currently exceed those anywhere else in England.
Andy Burnham and his Liverpool counterpart, Steve Rotheram, are warning the Prime Minister that the highest number of new cases last week were in the North West, arguing ‘we are not yet on the clear downward trajectory seen in other parts of the country’.
In a letter to the Prime Minister they also point to the latest report from the ‘Independent Sage’ group of scientists, set up as a ‘constructive alternative’ to the government’s official advice, which says changes to national guidance is ‘dangerous’ and