OLDHAM Council chiefs have published an action plan to control a second wave of coronavirus as new data shows the town is the fifth mostly likely to follow Leicester into local lockdown.

The statistics published by Public Health England (PHE) reveal Oldham has 38.6 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 head of population.

Top of the list is Leicester (140.2) followed by Bradford (69.4), Barnsley (54.7) and Bedford (42).

Tameside is seventh at 33.3.

The Oldham plan entitled “Oldham Covid-19 Management Plan: How We Control Outbreaks stipulates seven areas of concern: Care homes and schools, high risk places locations and vulnerable communities, local testing capacity, contact tracing in complex settings, data integration, vulnerable people and local boards.

In care homes and schools resource packs developed for care homes and schools, including actions to take and templates to use are being prepared.

Advice will be provided on infection prevention and control and action to take in response to cases as well as scenario planning undertaken to inform development of standard operating procedures.

“Letters will be sent to high risk businesses to communicate local arrangements and measures to prevent outbreaks,” the report says.

Meanwhile, local testing will be available through satellite site, mobile testing unit and there will be local pop up testing.

The council says it will be working with the Department of Health & Social Care to improve access to local testing for vulnerable groups with Additional testing capacity available through Greater Manchester Mass Testing Strategy to respond to outbreaks.

There will be a local single point of contact (staffed by public health) in place to receive referrals from the GM Integrated Contact Tracing Hub.

Environmental health officers will undertake local contact tracing and protocols will be developed with place-based teams to support response to cases and outbreaks. Additional infection prevention and control nurses will be appointed.

In addition, available data will be subjected to daily review by public health intelligence leads and the Department of Public Health.

There will be a data sharing agreement with PHE put in place to provide access to postcode level data on testing and contact tracing.