ENGLAND’S second coronavirus lockdown in November has been branded “a complete waste of time” by those fighting the virus in Southend.

Krishna Ramkhelawon has slammed the Government for keeping schools open throughout the second lockdown, while Southend continued to see a steady stream of people coming to the town for work and and leisure.

Throughout November, Southend continued to see a rise in the number of confirmed cases, rather than a drop.

The director for public health also revealed Southend Council had readied schools to close in November to curb rising case numbers but the authority was told by the Government not to.

He has now issued a stark warning to parents, with Southend seeing the highest rate of infection among zero to ten-year-olds across the country.

Dr Ramkhelawon revealed to the Echo the infection rate for youngsters hovered around 600 per 100,000 throughout December.

Mr Ramkhelawon said: “Families need to be aware, children can catch it and spread it to their grandparents.

“People need to understand very young children have caught the virus. There’s a lot of intergenerational families so the virus can spread easily at home.”

At the end of December, cases among primary children were still rising, with 47 cases reported on December 30.

Throughout November there were “one or two” cases per day.

He added: “We saw no change in the amount of people going to work or using hospitality before, during or after the second lockdown.

“It was a complete waste of time. Five days before the lockdown came into affect, Southend had one of the highest amounts of mobility in the country.

“As a result of the Government leak, they had to announce it when they did. That gave people five days to go mad.

“Announcing it after half term, where everyone had been mixing didn’t help either.

“We had an increase in cases during lockdown rather than a decrease.

“People were catching it in offices and taking it home and we needed the Government to issue clear messaging to employers to send people home.”

On a battle over school closures with the Department for Education, the public health boss said there was a plan to shut schools in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for education, threatened to sue schools in Greenwich after they closed their doors.

Mr Ramkhelawon added: “We told [the department] either support our closure or take us to court.

“We had told schools to be ready to close from November. They were all ready and supported our decision to close, but we were told no.

“Closing schools gives children a new way of learning, and protecting others too.”