Communities Secretary: Disproportionate impact of coronavirus on areas like the North East 'extremely concerning'

By Tom Sheldrick - Political Correspondent

The government has told us that the fact coronavirus appears to be affecting some people and communities much more than others is "extremely concerning."

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick was responding to my questions at this afternoon's Downing Street press conference.

We revealed last week that the North East has had the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases per head of any part of the country.

The gap to other regions has continued to widen, with high rates of infection in some poorer areas here particularly.

Public Health England has been asked to review links between coronavirus and factors such as deprivation, obesity, ethnicity, age and gender.

Aside from mentioning this, Mr Jenrick did not really provide an answer to my question about what the government is doing to try to protect people in our region:

Evidence suggests that the peak of the virus came several weeks later in the North East than in places like London.

In my follow-up question, I asked if the government would possibly lift lockdown restrictions later in regions like ours.

The Communities Secretary told me: "our strong preference is that the whole country moves as one".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to provide more detail on the government's plans on Sunday.

Robert Jenrick said ministers will "consider" making "interventions" in specific areas if there are local spikes in coronavirus cases going forward:

In earlier remarks, Mr Jenrick insisted that, despite the pandemic putting a huge strain on government finances, "coronavirus will not stop our mission to level up this country."

Promises of more investment in regions like ours are aimed at increasing prosperity, and health outcomes too - although that could take many years.