LONDON (Reuters) – A big incident has been declared in the Manchester spot of Britain, allowing the development of a “central command structure” to aid deal with the climbing selection of coronavirus circumstances, a regional official was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Well being minister Matt Hancock mentioned on Thursday the COVID-19 lockdown in sections of northern England – together with Better Manchester, parts of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire – would be tightened because of an increasing level of transmission.

“Although the council and spouse organisations have been performing intently to tackle the impacts of the pandemic considering the fact that early this calendar year, declaring a important incident usually means we can ramp this up further,” the Leader of Manchester Town Council Richard Leese explained in the Manchester Night News.

“It lets the institution of a central command construction to oversee the response and allows companies associated to draw on additional means.”

The metropolis council did not straight away react to an emailed request for comment from Reuters.

The pandemic has killed extra than 46,000 folks in Britain, the fourth optimum toll in the earth, according to a Reuters tally collated on Sunday.