Coronavirus: ‘Rules-breaking Bolton’s bar crawl’ saw cases rise

A returning vacationer who went bar-hopping instead of isolating himself was partly responsible for Bolton’s “extreme spike” in coronavirus cases, the city council leader said.

David Greenhalgh said the man tested positive for Covid-19 two days later at night with friends in town.

He said Bolton’s high rate had been linked to pubs and a “cohort of people” who refused to follow the guidance.

It is currently subject to stricter restrictions to stop the increase.

Greenhalgh told BBC Radio 4’s Today show that the spike “took us by surprise as we were discussing to have more loosening of restrictions at the time.”

He said: “We had an extreme peak where we went from 12 cases per 100,000 and in less than three weeks we went up to 212 cases.”

“We had someone who did not adhere to the quarantine, did not stay the 14 days, he literally went on a walk in the bars with several colleagues,” Greenhalgh said.

“From that incident that took place over a weekend – (they) visited a number of venues – it led to a lot of individual broadcasts from that person which you can imagine then is like holding back the tide because then it became symptomatic two days after everyone had hiked the bars

“They are four or five days in which all the people with whom he was in contact have been carrying out their daily activities.”