Fear in Leicester about easing restrictions despite a year of lockdown

The UK”s rapid vaccine rollout has raised the possibility of all lockdown measures in England being lifted by June 21.

But, for one city at least, there is less optimism.

Leicester has been in near-lockdown for a year and is making slower progress at getting the virus under control.

The city registered 135 coronavirus infections per 100,000 people over a seven-day period earlier in March.

That was twice the national average.

Jon Ashworth is a Leicester MP and the shadow health secretary. He is concerned the situation in the city will deteriorate if lockdown is lifted too soon.

“The worry is of course that we unlock too quickly,” he says. “We take our foot off the gas and we grow another mutation here, another variant.

“That could knock us back, if we do have another variant that can get around the vaccine then we’ll have to develop new vaccines and vaccinate the population again.”

So, after a year of restrictions in Leicester, how can the virus still be thriving?

Prakash Churbasama works in a factory in the city. He says employers and their staff are not taking restrictions seriously.

“There are people who aren’t wearing a mask – about four or five people who are going and not keeping their distance.”