Coronavirus LOCKDOWN 2! Fears grow of UK second wave forcing Britons back indoors

“Lockdown 2” has today been trending in the UK on Twitter as thousands of social media users express fears they will be forced back inside due to a second wave of COVID-19. Britain has one of the world’s highest death tolls from COVID-19 but infections are slowly starting to fall.

Boris Johnson’s Government lifted many restrictions in England from July 4 to help the economy facing the deepest contraction in three centuries.

Announcing that England was emerging from “hibernation”, Mr Johnson signalled the green light for pubs, restaurants and hotels to reopen from July 4.

He urged vigilance but said the Government did not believe there would be a second peak likely to overwhelm health services, due to social distancing measures and a new test and trace system.

However with local lockdown fears rising across the UK, and the city of Leicester already in a local lockdown, concerns are growing Britain will be shut down once again and Britons will be forced back in to their homes for a second time.

One posted: “Lockdown 2 better not happen I swear to they above!!!”

Another said: “Dear God why is Lockdown 2 trending.”

One wrote: “Lockdown 2 is trending. Don’t want to see another lockdown.”

A Twitter user posted: “Never peaced and pouted whilst looking in the mirror and crying as much as I have since lockdown 2.0”

READ MORE: Coronavirus map LIVE: UK records 20 hospital deaths – lowest Thursday

While some expressed no surprise the UK could be heading into a second shutdown, writing: “Can’t say we didn’t see lockdown 2 coming though, it was inevitable”.

And other social media users simply said they would not follow the rules, writing: “They can destroy the economy with Lockdown 2. But they can’t force people into isolation again. Won’t do it.”

A national lockdown was imposed on March 23, but has been gradually loosened over May and June.

Mr Johnson had previously announced that the authorities would seek to control the virus through local measures, in what he described as a “whack-a-mole” strategy.

And this was seen last month when the British government imposed a lockdown on the city of Leicester, which has a much higher COVID-19 infection rate than anywhere else in the country.

It was the Tory Government’s first major attempt to curb an outbreak with local rather than national measures.

Speaking at the time, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the seven-day infection rate in Leicester was 135 cases per 100,000 people, three times higher than the next highest city, and that Leicester accounted for 10 percent of all positive cases in the country in a week.

Meanwhile, Blackburn is now subject to a local lockdown after it was placed third on the list of highest weekly coronavirus rates in England, behind Leicester – which has a rate of 104.4 cases per 100,000 for the seven days to July 1.

The rate in Blackburn with Darwen for the seven days to July 12 is 48.3.

The area’s public health director warned it is facing a “rising tide” of coronavirus cases, centred on its large Asian community, with two weeks to get the numbers down before lockdown measures are reversed.

The Lancashire town brought in extra restrictions on Tuesday and Professor Dominic Harrison, the local authority’s director of public health, said the borough of 148,000 people was facing a “rising tide” of cases.