The whole of Leicestershire was under consideration for lockdown, it has been revealed by Ashby councillor and County Council leader Nick Rushton.

The city of Leicester and some areas just beyond its boundary were last Tuesday placed under tight restrictions – with non-essential retail and schools forced to shut – to try to stop a spike of coronavirus infections.

There has been widespread frustration about parts of the county being included in the lockdown, which will last until July 18 before being lifted or extended for at least a fortnight.

Today, however, Cllr Rushton said that at one point, the possibility of the whole of Leicestershire being included in the local lockdown was being suggested and discussed.

Addressing fellow county councillors, he said lengthy discussions took place with Baroness Dido Harding, the Secretary of State and Public Health England (PHE) before the map was drawn up.

He said: "I recognise that a lot of people are unhappy that in their view they've been lumped in with Leicester but it's not so much lumping in.

"The virus doesn't know boundaries.

"When we were drawing up the map we consulted with PHE and the Secretary of State, and after numerous versions of the map we came up with the final one, and when I was in conversations with Baroness Dido Harding, she said there was an argument that the boundary could have gone wider.

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"There was even an argument that the boundary could have included the whole of Leicestershire, which would have caused even more angst.

"I know we had to put it together relatively quickly, but please be reassured that we took the best possible advice we can to get the map together."

Braunstone Town county councillor Amanda Hack called for data to be released explaining why some communities like hers had been included in lockdown.

Coun Rushton said: "Everybody is asking for data, data, data, data.

"It has been agreed with the Secretary of State, Public Health England and us that as soon as we humanely can we will release every single bit of data that we can.

"We would like to have released some of it but we have been under a confidentiality agreement with Public Health England that we couldn't release it.

"The moment you release it people will still moan.

"It will definitely show some areas that aren't as bad as the city centre or Evington or wherever but we will release it as soon as we can."

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