A HOLIDAYMAKER who did not self-isolate after returning to the UK was partly responsible for one area's "extreme spike" in coronavirus cases, a council leader has said.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Bolton Council leader, a Conservative named David Greenhalgh, said the area's high rate had been linked back to pubs in the town and a "cohort of people" who refused to follow guidance.
The councillor said: "We had somebody who did not adhere to quarantine, did not stay the 14 days, literally went on a pub crawl with a number of mates.
"From that incident which took place over a weekend - (they) visited a number of premises - led to a large number of individual transmissions from that one person which you can imagine then is like holding back the tide because he then became symptomatic two days after they had all gone on this pub crawl.
"He was positive-tested the following day.
"That is four or five days where all the people he was in contact with have been going about their normal day-to-day business."
Earlier this month a 23-year-old man from Bolton was fined £1000 for failing to self-isolate after returning from a holiday in Ibiza and hosting a house party.
It is not known whether the individual mentioned by Greenhalgh was fined for breaching regulations.
Leaders in Bolton had been arguing for restrictions, placed on all of Greater Manchester, to be lifted at the end of August before the area saw a spike which led to it having the highest rates of the virus in the country.
It is now subject to tougher measures than the rest of England, with hospitality venues only allowed to operate as takeaways and ordered to shut by 10pm.
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