Leicester could be the first place in England to be placed in a local lockdown following a rise in the number of coronavirus cases, the home secretary warned over the weekend.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Priti Patel said the Government was considering the move after 866 Covid-19 cases were reported in the last two weeks in the city.

However, city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby has dismissed the news as ‘speculation’ and said there has been no discussion with the Government about the need for a local lockdown.

He also warned that the council had only received the data a few days ago and would need to properly analyse it before agreeing any further actions.

Sir Peter said: ‘More testing and immediate access to the data is key to determining what intervention is needed. Whether that intervention is giving more advice or something more dramatic we don’t yet know.

’If it is decided that a local lockdown is needed the city council currently has no powers to implement this, and there would need to be extensive discussion around the area to be locked down, including whether this extends beyond the city boundaries.’