Coronavirus restrictions to continue for at least another week in West Yorkshire hotspots

Restrictions in place due to coronavirus spikes in Bradford, Calderdale, and Kirklees are set to continue for at least another week as data showed cases of the virus in West Yorkshire hotspots remained high.
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It was announced this afternoon that the West Yorkshire areas, as well as Greater Manchester, parts of East Lancashire, and Leicester, would continue to be subject to rules banning visiting in private homes, following a meeting between the Government and local leaders yesterday.

The measures were first announced a fortnight ago to tackle a rise of coronavirus cases, but a number of Tory MPs have called for the boundaries to be looked at again, potentially on a postcode level.

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But the Department of Health and Social Care said today that the latest evidence did not show a drop in the number of cases per 100,000 people, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock saying restrictions should stay in place.

An employee at a Covid-19 testing centre in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, one of the areas where measures have been implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Photo: PAAn employee at a Covid-19 testing centre in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, one of the areas where measures have been implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Photo: PA
An employee at a Covid-19 testing centre in Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire, one of the areas where measures have been implemented to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Photo: PA

Health Minister Edward Argar said: “I’d like to thank everyone in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, East Lancashire and Leicester for their continued patience in following these vital rules put in place to tackle the spread of the disease – I know it hasn’t been easy.

“We will review the measures again next week as part of our ongoing surveillance and monitoring of the latest data.

“It is essential we all remain vigilant, and I urge everyone in these areas to continue to follow the rules - wash your hands regularly, follow social distancing, get yourself a free test as soon as you get any symptoms, and isolate if NHS Test and Trace tells you to.”

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The data also showed a rise in cases in Oldham and Pendle, with numbers also high in Blackburn with Darwen, and “enhanced incident teams” in those areas were now trying to bring infection rates under control.

The continuation of the restrictions came as Calderdale’s director of public health Debs Harkins issued a plea to the 200,000 residents of the borough as Calderdale Council was due to launch its own contact tracing service to run alongside the national programme.

Ms Harkins said the particular concern was in Halifax, where infection rates in some areas of the town are now higher than any part of Leicester, Blackburn with Darwen, or Luton.

Ms Harkins said: “Being the voice of doom doesn’t come naturally to me.

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“But I’m sorry to say that I’m writing this today to stress how serious the situation in Calderdale is, and to ask for your help to tackle Covid-19.”

She added: “When we look at the trends in confirmed cases in Calderdale, it’s clear that too many restrictions were lifted too quickly.

“In parts of Halifax particularly the infection rates are amongst the very highest in the country.

“The situation can change rapidly and, at the time I’m writing this, there are no areas in Leicester, Blackburn with Darwen or Luton where the infection rates are higher than those we can see in some parts of Halifax.

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“There’s no evidence at all that these higher rates are because people in Calderdale are less likely to observe social distancing than people in other areas of the country; in fact, the opposite is true.”

Ms Harkins said the borough had some of the lowest infection rates in the country during lockdown, and the information available seemed to indicate that new cases are in people who have been working in essential roles.

“These are the people who care for us, feed us, serve us and transport us,” she said.

“Since lockdown has eased, these are the people who are more likely to come into contact with Covid-19. These are the people who should be celebrated rather than blamed.”

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Calderdale is due to launch is own contact tracing service on today, subject to final government approval, which will work hand in hand with the national NHS Test and Trace service.

Contacts from people who have tested positive for Covid-19, who have not been reached by the national service within 48 hours, will be passed to the public health team, the council said.

This team will then try to contact them, by text, phone or door-knocking, to give them advice and support to self-isolate.

The local service will be delivered by the council in partnership with local NHS organisations, businesses plus voluntary and community groups, who have in-depth knowledge of local communities.

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Mr Harkins said: “It’s also important that we all understand that if we are to successfully implement these actions, our infection rate will increase before it reduces. This is because we need to find more people with Covid-19, so that they can be supported to isolate to reduce the spread of the virus.”

The latest data showed Calderdale as a whole had the sixth highest number of new cases in England at 42.8 per 100,000 people in the seven days to August 6.

Bradford has the fourth highest number of new cases, with 56.8 per 100,000 people.

And Kirklees had 28.7 cases per 100,000 people, and was in 15th place, but Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney, who had been calling for smaller lockdown boundaries, said he wanted to examine the postcode-level data.

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He said: “I will be using the local data, if this is going to go on for a long time we need to be getting down to the postcode data so we can isolate where the cases are, deal with them and tackle it, and have people’s lives returning to the new normal with face coverings and extra hygiene measures.”

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