THE North-East was praised for its response to the coronavirus crisis and was promised by the Government it would not be left behind when work on rebuilding the economy begins.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock was speaking at Tuesday’s daily Downing Street press conference in response to questions posed by The Northern Echo about how the virus has hit the region.

The Newcastle United football supporter began his answers by saying: “I want to pay tribute to people of the North-East for staying at home and helping to ensure the number of cases in the North-East has been relatively low.

“Knowing Newcastle well as I do, I know the people of the North-East are very gregarious and have done their duty by staying at home which is what was needed in these circumstances.”

Mr Hancock was born and grew up in Cheshire, went to Oxford and Cambridge universities, is MP for West Suffolk and was previously minister for Portsmouth, so it is not clear why he supports the Magpies, but when he was in isolation suffering from the virus, he released a video message from his office with a recently signed Newcastle football shirt hanging on the bookcase behind him.

The televised press conference was held in the shadow of another 586 deaths in hospitals from the virus in 24 hours, and it featured a tense exchange between Sky News’ Nick Martin and the Health Secretary about whether he should apologise for the developing situation in carehomes.

Mr Hancock announced an extension in testing to all carehome workers, and that six existing drugs were now undergoing clinical trialling with a view to them being used to treat victims.

There is, though, a private feeling among some leaders locally that the region has not been hit as hard as first feared, perhaps because the nationwide lockdown was started when the pandemic was ravaging London and the Midlands but before it had gained a killer grip on other regions. However, this relief is tempered by a fear that any second wave of infections could therefore disproportionately hit the regions.

The Northern Echo:

Professor Angela McLean, the Government’s Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser, said: “Your observation is absolutely right that London was always high above the other regions, and, interestingly, there is a signal that London turned over a little bit earlier than other regions and our scientists around the country are combing through that data to see if they can find anything to explain why that might be so, although if there is an effect it is quite small.”

In reply to the Echo’s question that her daily graph showed the number of people in hospital with Covid 19 rising slightly in the North-East and Yorkshire, she said: “You are right that yesterday’s numbers were a little bit higher in most regions than the day before, but it is tiny, well within the noise we see in these datasets. I watch these data incredibly carefully and although I would much rather see them go down every day, an increase like that is not something that worries me.”

Asked whether the regional differences merited a regional approach to tackling the virus, she said: “The question of regional policies is an interesting one. It is the kind of thing epidemiologists all over the world are puzzling over. There’s always a trade off between making sure you do things that are incredibly beautifully tailored to each parts of your population (while) on the other hand keeping things simple and all being in this together. I can reassure you that all the time we look at the data altogether.”

Mr Hancock admitted a regional timelag in the lockdown had been in the Government’s mind but had now been rejected. He said: “That is a question we are looking at. There was a big benefit as we brought in the lockdown measures of the whole country being in it together. We looked at moving London and the Midlands first because they were more advanced in terms of the number of cases but we decided we really are all in this together.

“The other thing to say is that it isn’t just about the level (of infections), it is about the slope of the curve, and if the r (the number of people each infected person passes the virus on to) goes above one anywhere then that would led eventually to an exponential rise and a second peak and an overwhelming of the NHS in that area, so although the level of the number of cases is different in different parts, the slope of the curve is actually remarkably similar across the country so that argues for doing things as a whole country together.”

Mr Hancock was also asked about how the Government would help manufacturing regions like the North-East, which have borne the brunt of previous economic downturns, recover from the virus. In some ways, the pandemic’s timing has been particularly cruel for the region as, having gone against tradition and elected Conservative MPs, the Budget just before the virus struck had made promises about forthcoming investment in infrastructure to help raise the local economy.

“It is absolutely a top priority to level up the country and that agenda will be even more important once we are through the coronavirus crisis,” he said. “North-East councils have been allocated more than £600m as part of the business support package and we’ve identified more than 50,000 business properties which may be able to receive a grant in the North-East.

“We are putting the economic support in place during the crisis and I am absolutely sure that after the crisis, the top priority of the Government will be to level up and ensure all parts of the country can recover together.”