Imposing a new national coronavirus lockdown would be “inappropriate” for East Anglia, a leading medic advising the government has said.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, made the comments during a Downing Street press conference yesterday (Tuesday, October 21).

During the conference, Prof Van-Tam expressed his opposition to a national circuit-breaker lockdown, as seen in Northern Ireland and Wales – adding that imposing restrictions on places with lower infection rates such as East Anglia and Cornwall would be “inappropriate”.

Prof Van-Tam warned, however, that the government may have to “push on the pedal a little harder” to get the R rate under control.

Prime minister Boris Johnson has refused to rule out another nationwide lockdown – but stressed local and regional approaches remain the right response.

“What we are trying to avoid is a national lockdown at all,” Mr Johnson said.

“We don’t rule anything out but the difficulty is that the distribution of the virus this time round is very uneven by comparison with March and April.

“And so the right response is, as many other countries are doing, to go to this local and regional approach.”

Mid Suffolk and West Suffolk currently have the highest Covid-19 rate per 100,000 in Suffolk, after cases rose to 55.8 per 100,000 in the week to October 17.

Despite the rise, however, both authority areas remain lower than areas under tighter restrictions, such as Nottingham (633) and Liverpool (583).

•What do you think about Prof Van-Tam’s comments? Would you like to see another lockdown? Vote in our poll to share your views.