London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Coronavirus: Preston young people targeted as lockdown imposed

Coronavirus: Preston young people targeted as lockdown imposed

Young people in Preston are being urged "Don't kill Granny" as new lockdown measures come into force.

Extra restrictions were imposed after Covid-19 infections rose in the city.

Adrian Phillips, chief executive of Preston City Council, said it was "alarming to see that the under-30s are contracting it at a significant rate".

"I know our director of public health has said 'Don't kill Granny' to young people to try and focus the message,'" he said.

Since midnight, residents in the Lancashire city are banned from mixing with people from outside their social bubble in homes, gardens, and indoor venues, such as pubs.

They can meet in groups of up to six - or more than six if they are from two households - in outdoor areas such as parks and beer gardens.


New lockdown measures have been introduced in Preston



he restrictions will be reviewed next week, with any changes due to be announced by Friday.

It comes after similar rules banning residents from visiting people's homes and gardens in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire came into force on 31 July.

Socialising between people from different households in pubs and homes had been seen as the main cause for the spike, local authorities said.

Impact among poor


Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Lancashire's director of public health, told BBC Breakfast that "47% of positive cases are in younger people - 30 years and below".

"Contrary to the common myth that this affects the south Asian groups the most, we have found that it's roughly affecting white ethnic backgrounds as well as south Asian groups in Preston almost equally," he said.

Local officials said the spike was particularly among those living in poor socio-economic conditions, including inner city and rural areas.

There were 61 new cases in Preston in the seven days to 4 August. This is the equivalent of 42.6 cases per 100,000 people - up from 21.7 per 100,000 in the previous seven days.



Inter-faith worker Nadeem Ashfaq said parts of Preston had been "really quiet" since the new measures were announced



Mr Phillips said younger people "often have less symptoms but they do take it back to their household".

He said local authorities were working with community groups who were doing "peer-to-peer communications".

"It's just trying so many different ways to get the message to all communities, to all areas of our city that the virus is still something to be really wary of," he added.

'Calm understanding'


Nadeem Ashfaq, from inter-faith group the Light Foundation, said parts of the city had been "really quiet" overnight and on Saturday morning.

"Everywhere I have been, I see people with masks," he said.

The announcement of new lockdown restrictions had not been a shock, he said, as people had been made aware of the city's rising infection rate in recent weeks by local authorities.

"If you look at other towns and places, you can sense there was an upheaval. I think in Preston there seems to be a calm understanding," he added.

Hannah Heaton, 28, said she thought the new restrictions were confusing.

"It doesn't make sense that you can't go to houses but you can meet people outside or go to pubs," she said.

"My grandparents rely on me to help them and now going to see them has been taken away from me.

"There's nothing I can do about it. I think certain people haven't been taking it seriously because they don't think it will affect them."

Charlene Gardner, 38, said: "The pubs around us were still 30 or 40-deep outside last night.

"It won't mean any changes for us because we haven't been seeing family anyway, but I saw some reaction online last night and I think a lot of people aren't going to listen to it."

Many people in the main Fishergate shopping street were wearing masks, and a face mask seller, who did not want to be named, said the city was less busy than the previous weekend.

"You see the older people wearing masks but the younger ones don't. The problem is in the pubs and they don't wear masks there," he said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
×