WARWICKSHIRE'S CONFIRMED CASES RISE BY FOUR AT 1,432 WITH INCREASES FOR MIDLANDS OUTSTRIPPING LONDON AND NORTH WEST

NICOLA STURGEON WARNS 'GENUINE DANGER' COVID-19 WILL BEGIN TO SPREAD AGAIN AS LOCKDOWN MEASURES ARE LIFTED IF PUBLIC HEALTH GUIDANCE NOT FOLLOWED

ATHERSTONE and North Warwickshire recorded three of the four new cases of Covid-19 in the entire county in the last 24 hours, new figures reveal.

The official total of 187 lab-confirmed cases comes out of an additional 24 reported across neighbouring local authorities.

The local district had seen a sharp decline in people testing positive with only five cases in the previous four days.

The three cases were in contrast to three of the boroughs – Nuneaton and Bedworth, Solihull and Lichfield – reporting no increases in numbers from the day before.

Warwickshire saw a total rise of just four to 1,432 cases, with neighbouring Leicestershire on 1,265 (up nine) and Staffordshire on 2,196 (an increase of 13)

The Midlands showed the biggest rise in cases – up 98 to 25,464 – while London saw an increase of 38 to 26,818 and the North West a rise of 21 to 25,011.

The UK's total cases now stands at 261,184 – up 1,625.

The death tally is 36,914 – a rise of 121 in the last 24 hours.

Nicola Sturgeon has warned there is a "genuine danger" that Covid-19 will begin to spread again as lockdown measures are lifted.

The Scottish First Minister said that "even as we glimpse a possible end to some lockdown restrictions" it is "more important than ever" to follow the measures that remain in place.

"As we start to lift these restrictions there is a genuine danger that the virus will start to spread again a bit more quickly," she said.

"The way in which we ensure that doesn't happen – and that way in which we enable even more restrictions to be lifted in future – is to continue to follow whatever public health guidance is in place at the time."

Ms Sturgeon said Prime Minister Boris Johnson should come to the "same conclusion" as she did when she accepted the resignation of Scotland's chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood for breaching lockdown rules.

Asked about the Prime Minister's aid Dominic Cummings driving from London to Durham with his young child and symptomatic wife, she said Mr Johnson should reconsider his decision.

Speaking during her daily coronavirus briefing, the First Minister said she understood that many people would have been left "angry and frustrated by stories you have heard".

Newly-released figures put the cases of people testing positive in the North Warwickshire district at a rate at 288.4 per 100,00 population.

The statistics are revealed in additional information on 'lower tier' local authorities provided by the Government via the Office for National Statistics more than 100 days since the first case of coronavirus was reported in the UK.

The borough sits fourth out of nine in terms of cases per 100,000 among the neighbouring local council areas bordering Atherstone.

North Warwickshire's case rate per 100,000 population is higher than the Warwickshire figure of 250.8 and England (267.6) and the West Midlands at 281. The UK figure of 384.9 per 100,000 population is bumped up by a Welsh rate of 427.4.

Close neighbours Nuneaton and Bedworth now top the cases per 100,000 table for authorities around Atherstone's North Warwickshire borough – passing the 300 barrier at 314.2. It has recorded a total of 405 Covid cases.

With the inclusion of population, recorded cases and rate per 100,000 population, the full table of authorities which have a boundary touching North Warwickshire reads:

Nuneaton & Bedworth (pop 128,902): Cases 405 at rate of 314.2 cases per 100,000;

Birmingham (pop 1.08 million): Cases 3,411 at rate of 298.9 cases per 100,000;

Lichfield (pop 103,965:) Cases: 284, at rate of 273.2 cases per 100,000;

Coventry (pop 325,949): Cases 807, at rate of 220 cases per 100,000;

North West Leicestershire (pop 102,126): Cases 152, at rate of 148.8 cases per 100,000.

Eight people in Atherstone have lost their lives to the virus, putting the town at a current rate of 75 deaths per 100,000, according to the Office for National Statistics, with only Birmingham above on 78.

The figures are relevant for coronavirus deaths between March 1 and April 17.

North Warwickshire, which finds itself surrounded by no fewer than eight other adjoining Midland authorities, has recorded 24 deaths in that timescale – with an ONS mortality rate of 35 per 100,000.

Meanwhile, one of the staggering pictures of crowds ignoring social distancing has emerged from America – which a few hundred fatalities away from recording 100,000 deaths to coronavirus.

The image shared by the news station KSDK showed dozens of people crammed on an outdoor patio in a Missouri tourist hot spot – underneath a sign reading 'Please practise social distancing'.

The day trippers flocked to the Lake of the Ozarks over the US Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Dense crowds were also spotted at beaches along the East Coast, on a weekend when American flags flew at half-mast in memory of the country's near six-figure confirmed victims of the virus.

In Arkansas, Governor Asa Hutchinson said a recent secondary school swim party contributed to the state's "second peak" of infections but still encouraged residents to venture out.

"We take the virus very seriously", the governor announced, adding. "It's a risk, it causes death, but you cannot cloister yourself at home, that is just contrary to the American spirit."

Meanwhile, supermarkets have been accused of suppressing information about outbreaks among their employees.

More than 100 infected workers were discovered at two Walmarts in Massachusetts last month – only after local health officials investigated and tested the entire staff.

The US leads the world in the one table no one wants to head up – on nearly 100,000 fatalities (99,561) and with 1.69 million people testing positive.

The death tally across the globe from coronavirus stands at 348,242. More than 2.33 million have recovered worldwide out of 5.55 million recorded cases.