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Opposition politicians in Gloucestershire have called for a public investigation into the decision to allow the Cheltenham racing festival and other sporting events to go ahead in March in the days immediately prior to the nationwide lockdown.

Data about the higher number of cases in the county compared with other parts of the south-west has led to growing questions as to whether the four-day event attended by 125,000 people could have led to a spike in the numbers who caught the disease and even died.

Crowds in the stands during day four of the Cheltenham Festival at Cheltenham Racecourse. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Paul Hodgkinson, the Lib Dem opposition leader on the county council, highlighted “emerging evidence” picked up by the Somerset County gazette, which show a marked uplift in cases in Gloucestershire from March 31, a little over two weeks after the festival ended on March 13.

He said that the Lib Dems in Cheltenham “are subsequently calling for a public investigation into whether Government encouragement to proceed with sporting fixtures and mass-gatherings, at a time when other countries were struggling to contain Covid-19, increased the spread of infections throughout the UK and put the health of Cheltenham residents and visitors at risk”.

Last week the Guardian reported that public health experts said there should be an inquiry into whether Cheltenham led to a spike in coronavirus cases after mortality data showed that more people had died in Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trusts (148) than nearby two trusts in Bristol (75 and 70) plus those in Swindon (79) and Bath (50). But local public health officials have been reluctant to make any connection with the festival, arguing that Gloucestershire is a separate case from the rest of the south west, with one nearby trust, Worcestershire Acute hospitals, registering 178 deaths. They say that “a number of factors” are behind Gloucestershire’s case number.

