Restaurants and hair salons in Leicester say they are being “left in limbo” by the government and local council as they brace for a further extension of the city’s lockdown, with many not expecting to open before August. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is due to announce on 18 July whether the UK’s first full local lockdown, imposed on 30 June, will remain in force in the Midlands city. The seven-day rate of infections in Leicester is falling gradually but remains high, at 117 cases per 100,000 population, compared with the next highest of 17 cases per 100,000 in Barnsley, according to the latest NHS data. As lockdown measures are further eased across the UK, businesses in Leicester say they can see no immediate end to the city-wide restrictions preventing the opening of pubs, restaurants, hair salons and non-essential shops. Barrie Stephen, who owns a chain of hair salons employing 60 people, says he expects his shops to stay shut until mid-August. He says he has written to the city mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, expressing concern about the lack of clarity on when and how the lockdown might be lifted. “It’s devastating for the high street, which was suffering before this – God knows what it looks like going back,” he said. “It’s also negative PR for Leicester. Who wants to come into a bloody Covid-riddled city?” Hancock has declined to set a target for lifting Leicester’s lockdown. In Germany, the chancellor, Angela Merkel, has ordered local restrictions to be reimposed if Covid-19 cases exceeded 50 per 100,000 people. Hancock told MPs this week that he would not set such a target, because a low rate of infection that was rising could be worse than a higher rate that was falling. Leicester officials said they were as “in the dark” as local businesses and did not know what was required for the city’s lockdown to be lifted. The city’s businesses were also disappointed not to receive any further financial support in the chancellor, Rishi Sunak’s, summer statement on Wednesday, with some losing thousands of pounds a day since lockdown was reimposed. Guy Kersey, a restaurateur who was about to open a new venue, Orton’s Brasserie, in the city centre when the UK-wide lockdown was introduced, said his company had lost out on about £20,000 in takings since the Leicester restrictions were imposed 10 days ago. Jennifer Thomas, of the Federation of Small Businesses, which represents around 700 companies in the lockdown zone, said the lack of financial support was disappointing and businesses were losing out on trade, sometimes to rival firms just outside the lockdown zone. “If everybody’s losing £1,000 a day in takings, that’s bad enough – but if you know your customers are out spending their money, just not with you, then that’s really painful,” she said. Soulsby said on Thursday he would be lobbying the government for extra cash to help local firms. Shafiqul Islam, owner of the Indian restaurant Chutney Ivy, said businesses in Leicester had been hit by “the aftershock following a major earthquake” and had no clear path out of the rubble. He said he had a “deep, horrible feeling” that the city’s lockdown would not be lifted next weekend and, despite praising the government’s economic response to the pandemic, he said Leicester had been “left out” of the financial support. At North Bar and Kitchen, the co-owner, Sally Davis, said the initial government grant of £10,000 was a “drop in the ocean” and she felt “left in limbo” by officials over when Leicester might emerge from lockdown. “It’s a very, very uncertain time. How long can we keep going on?” she asked. Daniele Taverna, the owner of Gelato Village, said there did not seem to be a plan to bring people back into Leicester city centre once the lockdown was lifted: “The summer season is nearly lost and there doesn’t seem to be a plan for the next 12 to 18 months,” he said.