London, July 13 (IANS) A leaked UK government report has identified 20 council areas deemed to be most at risk from a new coronavirus outbreak.

According to the report, Leicester, which has already been put into a local lockdown, was deemed to be top of the list and earmarked for "intervention", the Metro newspaper reported.

Areas identified as needing "enhanced support" were Bradford, Sheffield and Kirklees, it said.

Another six regions, Bedford, Barnsley, Rotherham, Oldham, Rochdale and Blackburn with Darwen, were said to be areas of "concern", the report added.

The classified document compiled by Public Health England was leaked to the Observer newspaper and was published on Sunday.

It is based on coronavirus testing between June 21 and July 4, with councils ranked by the percentage of people who tested positive.

As of Monday, the UK reported a total of 291,154 coronavirus cases, with 44,904 deaths.

--IANS ksk/