Oldham, Pendle and Blackburn have escaped full local lockdowns, but strict new social distancing measures have been introduced instead following a spike in coronavirus cases.

Different households will no longer be able to meet with each other in the three areas in any setting, including in parks and beer gardens – while extra coronavirus restrictions which were in force in Wigan, Darwen and Rossendale have been removed.

Birmingham has also been added to this week’s watch list as an “area of enhanced support”, meaning it will receive extra resources for additional testing and contact tracing, and Northampton becomes an “area of intervention“, placing it in the highest risk category and requiring the most support.

The leader of Oldham council, Cllr Sean Fielding, said public transport would be deemed for “absolutely essential use only” and the number of people allowed to attend weddings and funerals would be reduced in the town.

It has not yet been made clear when the new restrictions will be introduced.

The action was agreed with local leaders by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty.

Oldham currently has the highest two-week COVID-19 case rate across England, Scotland and Wales – followed by Northampton and Blackburn with Darwen.

However, targeted testing and other measures has resulted in a decline in the rate of infections in the town.

A total of 187 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Oldham in the seven days to August 17 – the equivalent of 78.9 per 100,000 people and down from 111.8 in the seven days to August 10 – according Public Health England data published yesterday.

“We have made a clear case to government that a local lockdown with the closure of businesses would not be the right solution to tackle the problems we are facing in Oldham,” said Mr Fielding.

“Our alternative was an alternative which put forward some measures that would reduce social mixing and increase the targeting of testing and enforcement of testing in areas where it is needed most.”

He added: “I know that this is a difficult time but we need to work together and pull together now more than ever to bring down our coronavirus cases and avoid any future threat of local lockdown or further national lockdown.

“I hope that I can rely on the residents of Oldham to support us and together we can come through this crisis.”

The leader of Birmingham City Council is expected to propose the following four measures to control the spread in the city when he meets with Mr Hancock later:

• Halt on any further opening of sectors
• Restriction on gatherings of more than 30 (except congregational prayer)
• Advising drivers and customers to wear face masks in taxis
• Limiting visiting between households to a maximum of two individuals from any one household to another, at any one time

Several areas across Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, East Lancashire and Leicester have already faced tougher restrictions for more than two weeks to try and contain the spread of coronavirus.

Ministers handed powers to councils to declare local lockdowns – but can still impose them if deemed necessary.

The latest PHE figures show Northampton is almost level with Oldham on 78.4 cases per 100,000 people, a slight increase from 74.4, with 176 new cases.

A total of 101 new cases were recorded during the same week in Blackburn with Darwen, where the rate has fallen from 81.5 to 67.5. Pendle’s latest weekly rate is also down to 64.1.

In Leicester – which was the first area to be placed in a local lockdown after national restrictions were eased – the rate continues to drop and is down from 70.3 to 52.5, with 186 new cases.

It means holidaymakers returning to face a 14-day quarantine in the UK could be coming home to towns or cities with higher coronavirus rates than the popular tourist destinations they have left.

The average number of cases in Croatia – which has now been added to the UK’s quarantine list – has risen from a rate of 13.54 a week ago to 29.5 in the past week.

This is above the UK government’s quarantine threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 people in a week – but a number of local authority areas in England have much higher rates than that.

Other areas recording notable week-on-week jumps include Manchester (up from 38.5 to 49.0, with 271 new cases), Bury (up from 22.0 to 33.0, with 63 new cases) and Stoke-on-Trent (up from 15.6 to 26.1, with 67 new cases).

Meanwhile, the Greencore sandwich factory in Northampton is to close from today, with staff and members of their households having to isolate for 14 days.

It was announced last week that almost 300 employees had tested positive for COVID-19 after an outbreak linked to the factory that makes sandwiches for M&S.

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