How many people caught Covid-19 in the weeks the former government adviser has said lockdown should have been enforced, but wasn't?

Dominic Cummings has criticised the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic at a session of the House of Commons' health and science and technology select committee.

He made the statements today (Wednesday, May 26) at an evidence session as part of an inquiry.

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In this session – which remains ongoing – the former adviser made a number of assertions, including a claim about lockdown: “I think it is clear that we obviously should have locked down essentially the first week of March at the latest.”

The Recorder has data on the number of cases recorded in Redbridge every seven days since March 1 last year.

The numbers show that in the week up until that date, there were 161 positive coronavirus cases recorded in the borough.

In the seven days prior to March 23 - when lockdown was officially announced - 147 people were recorded as having caught the virus.

The chart below shows how these numbers unfolded until the end of April 2020.