A SECOND national lockdown may be the answer in slowing the spread of coronavirus after local lockdown restrictions were slammed by council leaders, experts have warned.

Professor Calum Semple, who is a member of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said a "circuit-breaker" lockdown should now be considered.

It comes as Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes was among a number of leaders in the North who today said local lockdown restrictions were not working.

READ MORE: Local lockdowns "not working" warn council leaders as Covid rates double

Speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Semple said he recommended a “circuit breaker” be considered on a national basis in a bid to slow the virus, rather than trying to reduce it at a later stage.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “perhaps a circuit breaker a couple of weeks ago would have been a really good idea”.

He added: “It’s always easier to reduce an outbreak at the earlier stage than to let it run and then try to reduce it at a later stage.

“So, yes, circuit breakers are certainly something we should be thinking about on a national basis.”

Yesterday, he told BBC Newsnight: "We are starting to get to a point where we really will have to take really critical action otherwise we are going to run the risk of turning the National Health Service back into the national Covid service.

“These local restrictions that have been put in place in much of the north of England really haven’t been very effective.

"We need to take much more stringent measures, not just in the north of England, we need to do it countrywide, and bring the epidemic back under control.”

He said the Government’s current “light touch” measures are just “delaying the inevitable”.

“We will at some point put very stringent measures in place because we will have to when hospitals start to really fill up,” he said.

“Frankly, the better strategy is to put them in place now.

According to the Government’s coronavirus dashboard, there were 2,783 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals in England and 349 patients on ventilators as of Tuesday.

The leaders of Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle City Councils – Judith Blake, Sir Richard Leese and Nick Forbes – today joined Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson in writing to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to say they are “extremely concerned” about the rise in cases.

“The existing restrictions are not working, confusing for the public and some, like the 10pm rule, are counter-productive,” the Labour politicians wrote.

They called for additional powers to punish those who break rules, for new restrictions to be developed by police, council and public health experts, and for a locally-controlled Test and Trace system.

“We want to be clear, however, that we do not support further economic lockdowns,” the leaders added.