Bolton’s council leader has said ‘all options are on the table’ regarding local restrictions as they tackle the town’s ‘sudden’ and ‘extreme’ spike in Covid 19 infections.

At a council cabinet meeting on Monday evening, the leader of the council, David Greenhalgh was asked by opposition Labour councillor Martin Donaghy whether he had ruled out a ‘total lockdownof Bolton again’.

Councillor Greenhalgh, said: “I think nobody at this stage can sensibly rule out anything.

“I think we have to be drawn by the evidence, drawn by the data and take advice from our experts and clinicians and it would be wholly irresponsible for me at this stage to rule anything in or rule anything out.

“We have to respond when we see the data.

“Clearly this is a very worrying time for Bolton.

“I think we can appreciate the level of the spike has been sudden, it’s been unpredicted and it’s been extreme.

“There have been meetings over the past few days with our own chief officers, Public Health England, the Secretary of State’s department and the Cabinet Office.

“We’re doing all we can to keep to some degree of normality for the residents of this town but discussions are ongoing about what level is needed if the cases continue to rise.”

During the cabinet meeting, Councillor Susan Haworth asked whether Bolton had learned from other nearby areas which have had similar spikes in infection rates.

She said: “We all know that the COVID infection rate has risen.

“We all know that much more test and trace is a part of that but I’m learning from the other areas such as Oldham where couple of cabinet members there have been saying that literally they’ve been on the streets.

“One of them was in Woodhouses in Oldham where they were saying they were getting a really good reception on the doorsteps where they were handing out the self test kits.

“They’ve been out there in the communities.

“Is there anything we should hear about today that we are learning from those areas?”

Dr Lowey, director of Public Health for Bolton, replied: “I want to emphaise the work that’s been done over the weekend with officers across the community.

“We’ve actually handed out more than 700 tests this weekend.

“We did an approach that was targeting the younger population, the 18 to 42-year-olds through supermarkets and the reason for that was to have that engagement so we can have a discussion at the same time socially distanced in a safe environment.

“What we have to remember is that our spread of the virus is a slightly different pattern to what Oldham’s was so the approach we have taken is appropriate for our residents here in Bolton.

“Our spread is right across the borough and in that younger poulation which is why we have focussed in that particular way.

“Were doing a very intensive testing strategy.”