New ‘Covid marshals’ to patrol wider area of Peterborough due to rising infection rate

Patrols began in Peterborough in early October as part of a new approach to stop the spread of coronavirus, particularly in central areas of the city where there is high footfall.

The joint police and city council teams were tasked with spreading awareness of government guidelines, as well as handing out fines.

However, with Peterborough seeing a recent large spike in positive Covid-19 tests, more council officers are being sent out into the streets to help to cover a larger part of the city.

A Peterborough City Council spokesman said: “We are re-deploying council staff as additional Covid marshals to ensure that the marshals are covering more areas of the city.

“This is enabling patrols to cover areas including Hampton, Werrington and the city centre.

“This is in response to rising Covid cases in the city and we continue to monitor the situation to determine how the marshals continue to be used.”

The Peterborough Telegraph has asked the council how many fines have been issued by marshals so far.

Earlier this week the council’s director of public health Dr Liz Robin told the PT that the national coronavirus lockdown came “at the right time for Peterborough”.

She said Peterborough saw a 40 per cent increase in cases (435) between November 4-11 compared to the previous week, with the vast majority of people becoming infected just ahead of lockdown.

Currently, the virus is spreading in the city at the fastest rate since the first national lockdown, with more than 200 per 100,000 population infected with Covid-19.

Moreover, the number of elderly people contracting the virus is increasing, leading to a rise in deaths and further pressure on Peterborough City Hospital.

Peterborough has requested that it be a trial area for mass Covid-19 testing.