The Bristol Post reports that earlier this week, England’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said one ‘possibility’ of lifting lockdown was to do so at a local level rather than nationally

He said: ‘we know that cities and densely-populated places have a higher prevalence than rural places… and an option that could be considered is to think about whether measures could be done locally versus nationally.’ However, the paper argues that could lead to difficulties, such as whether people could use public transport to travel. Sir Patrick added: ‘once you go to a regional approach, you effectively are saying that you are going to demarcate regions very carefully and you’ve got to control the flow between regions. But that is a possibility.’

Rural areas such as the South West have seen far fewer cases of COVID-19 than in other regions, with fewer than 7,000 cases compared to more than 25,000 in London.

With these numbers and a comparatively low population density, rural areas like in parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire could be prime locations for an earlier lifting of lockdown.

Full articles:

The Bristol Post - Rural areas could see lockdown lifted ahead of cities

The Daily Mail - Cities could be treated differently to rural areas when lockdown restrictions are lifted, hints Government Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance