Health Secretary Matt Hancock emphasized that there was a national lockdown as a “last line of defense” to protect Britain from widespread coronavirus infection. Mr Hancock said the need for local action could help ensure government and public health officials avoid complete shutdowns there. He acknowledged, however, that the lack of co-operation could ultimately force the UK to increase the limits of social distance for everyone across the country.

Despite warnings to “double” the number of people hospitalized with CVD-19 every eight days over the past few weeks, the Conservative frontbank has not been able to confirm how effective the country is with the lockdown.

Mr Hancock said: “We will do what is necessary to keep people safe. The first line of defense is that everyone should follow the social distance we have talked about many times. The hand, the face, the place and that social distance should be maintained.

“The communication tracing system, it’s working very well and it’s the second line of defense.

“After that, these local lockdowns and the last line of defense are for national action. I don’t want to see this but it is necessary to protect people in a different epidemic which is what we will do.”

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The health secretary added: “It’s not something we ever remove from the table, but it’s something we want to see.

“This is the last line of defense. What I will say this morning is that the country needs to come together once again and recognize that there is a serious challenge, the virus is accelerating.

“Unfortunately, it’s not just the cases that are increasing, it’s also the number of people who are in the hospital.

“It’s basically across the north-west of England but we’ve seen an upsurge across the north-east and we’re ready to do whatever it takes to keep people safe as well as make a living.”

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