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A Country Durham town councillor has claimed the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax as no one she knows has died.

Irene Hewitson, 63, who works as an Independent member of Great Aycliffe Town Council, believes the country is being locked down over a ‘fake virus’ – despite more than one million people losing their lives worldwide.

Durham is currently in tier two lockdown, with nearly 2,000 cases identified at the city’s university alone since September – but Ms Hewitson claims Government restrictions need to stop or the country will turn into ‘North Korea’.

Speaking to ChronicleLive at a recent anti-lockdown protest, the Byerley Park, Horndale & Cobblers Hall councillor said: ‘We’re being locked down over a fake virus. I don’t believe the virus exists. When my neighbours, relatives, friends and work people are dying around me then I’ll believe it’s true.

‘I’ve got a friend who works in the Nightingale Hospital and they’ve never had one patient. They’ve been cleaning a hospital for six months. It’s absolutely disgusting.

‘My granddaughter goes dancing, she goes skating – all the things she enjoys is going ahead – and yet Boris can still go hunting and shooting, it’s absolutely disgusting.’

She continued: ‘I think if people turned their TVs off and just took their masks off, got back to normal then the virus would be gone.

‘I’m 63-year-old and I’ve never worn a mask, I’ve never used hand sanitiser and I’ve never had a day’s illness. And I won’t because I’m building up an immunity if there is a little tiny virus out there like the flu.

Newton Aycliffe Town Councilor Irene Hewitson attending today's demonstration in Durham where a small number of supporters gathered to listen to a speech by Geza Tarjanyi
Irene Hewitson attending an anti-lockdown demonstration in Durham where a small number of supporters gathered to listen to a speech by Geza Tarjanyi (Picture: NCJ MEDIA)
Commuters wear face-masks during morning rush hour on the Victoria Line of the London Underground in central London on October 16, 2020, as the number of novel coronavirus COVID-19 cases. - Roughly half of England is now under tougher coronavirus restrictions, after the government on Thursday announced more stringent measures for London and seven other areas to try to cut surging numbers of cases. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
More than one million people have died worldwide with coronavirus (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

‘People need to wake up fast because before long we’re going to have no jobs, no social life, no life at all. It’s going to be like living in North Korea.’

The city of Durham recorded 616 new cases in the week ending October 16 – but officials in the north-east have said they will ‘resist’ if the government attempts impose tier three restrictions.

It comes as the UK desperately tries to fight off a second wave, with the official death toll rising to 45,088 after 102 more fatalities were reported on Monday.

The number of coronavirus-related deaths has risen to its highest level since June, figures showed today.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 670 people died with the virus in the week ending October 16 – an increase of 232 compared to the week before.

Exhausted medics battling the second surge have admitted they are concerned the virus is now ‘unrelatable’ for the general public.

Nadine McStein, who works as a ward manager at Whiston Hospital in Knowsley, Merseyside, said: ‘Staff are exhausted, they’re tired, they’re run down. They soldier on, there’s a great sense of camaraderie amongst all the staff within the hospital.’


She added: ‘I don’t think they [the public] appreciate the extent of what the NHS is going through and I think it’s disheartening to see people protesting and people going against the rules and regulations because we are definitely seeing the impact that’s having on people now.’

Meanwhile, scientists have warned immunity to Covid-19 is ‘waning quite rapidly’ and may only last a few months.

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