Police must be prepared to face the consequences of applying it on a larger scale, ignoring coronavirus restrictions, police warned.

The chief constables of five forces in north-west England have said in an open letter that they will “collectively” target minorities who break the rules by holding large gatherings, concerts and parties.

Their comments came just days before tougher restrictions were imposed across England in an attempt to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

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Senior officials from the forces occupying Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside said their forces took a “highly measurable” approach to application and “used the model as the underlying, explained, encouraged and only last resort.”

“Sadly we have seen minorities across the Northwest who seem incapable of showing any civic responsibility and complying with the regulations.”

They said the public wanted a “consistent and strong” approach to enforcement and that the introduction of local restrictions saw the force take a “firm stand” against the restrictions and move faster to issue specific fines.

They wrote: “We know how difficult it is, but to defeat the virus and save lives in the end we have to hold on to the shared purpose that was in our first lockdown.

“Minorities must be prepared to face the consequences of a wider application of these sanctions to those who do not apply to them.”

“We will collectively target those who hate these restrictions, especially those who organize large gatherings and concerts, repeatedly party or deliberately harm our community by not following restrictions such as self-separation where necessary.”

“Where we have issued notices of fixed fines a significant proportion of recipients think they may ignore these.

“So we are seeking the support of the government and the judiciary to consider how we can bring these people to justice quickly.”

The United Kingdom made the announcement on Tuesday In 28 days of positive coronavirus testing, 397 people died, The highest number since May.

There were also 20,018 new ones COVID-19 Cases compared to 18,950 on the previous day.