Preston is 'on the brink of lockdown' after coronavirus flared up in the city - and in other English towns outside the northern lockdown zone.
Weekly statistics showed the number of new Covid-19 cases per 100,00 people went up from 15.5 to 33.8 in Preston. The city is to the north of the Greater Manchester lockdown area and to the west of Blackburn with Darwen.
It comes after the Preston nightclub Switch became the first to reopen in Britain since lockdown, charging revellers £200 per person.
Other significant increases took place in: Swindon, in Wiltshire, where the figure increased from 19.8 to 48.6 Melton in Leicestershire, where it went up from 15.5 to 33 Carlisle, in Cumbria, has also seen the number shoot up from 12.9 to 23.1 Swindon