Five members of staff and one student test positive for coronavirus at Leeds City College

A total of five members of staff and one student have tested positive for coronavirus at Leeds City College.
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Bill Jones, Principal for the college, told the Yorkshire Evening Post of the cases in a statement today.

As soon as the college found out about each case, they "took responsible and decisive action" to close down the impacted areas and notified Public Health England.

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The college also engaged with Leeds Council as part of our track and trace strategy.

Leeds City CollegeLeeds City College
Leeds City College

Impacted staff and students have been asked to stay at home and advised to get a test and areas have been deep cleaned.

Organised remote learning for students has been organised, the principal said.

Bill Jones said: “We can confirm that five staff members and one student at Leeds City College have tested positive for COVID-19 to date. As soon as we found out about each case, we took responsible and decisive action to close down the impacted

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areas and notify Public Health England immediately. We also engaged with Leeds City Council as part of our track and trace strategy.

“We took the following actions with each case:

"Closed down the impacted area and notified staff and students.

"Asked impacted staff and students to stay at home and advised them to get a test.

"Arranged a deep clean of the area.

"Organised remote learning for students.

"Contacted Public Health England to notify them of each incident and implement any additional recommendations.

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“We have been working very hard to ensure that we have all the safety measures in place.

"This includes wearing face coverings in communal areas, adhering to social distancing guidelines, grouping students in bubbles and additional cleaning measures.

"The processes we have implemented mean that we are able to respond quickly and responsibly to any cases that we become aware of.

“Public Health England commended us on our swift action in each instance and we will continue to work with them and the Department for Education.

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"Our priority is the safety of our students and staff and we will take the necessary measures in order to ensure this.”

The news comes amid an outbreak of cases in schools across the city.In North Yorkshire, the county's Resilience Forum put out this advice to help control the spread of infections in Yorkshire: "Prevent, contain and reduce the spread of the virus, wherever and however possible.

"Save lives and prevent long-term illness as a consequence of the virus; Keep businesses and schools open;

"Re-inforce personal responsibility: “hands, face, space”; (wash hands, wear a face mask, keep a social distance of at least one metre and preferably two metres apart)

"Protect the NHS;

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"Protect care settings and people who are the most frail members of the community;

"Prevent a further, full lockdown if at all possible;

"Take a localised, targeted approach based on risk levels and prevalence of the virus.

"In addition, in the whole of the Scarborough and Selby districts, people are asked to:

"Exercise extra vigilance in maintaining hand hygiene and social distancing.

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"Use face coverings when leaving home while circulating infection levels are increasing.

"Avoid large groupings of over 30 people.

"Events organisers to re-think any indoor or outdoor events that involve more than 30 people;

"Take extra care when leaving home if you have an underlying health condition or have been advised to shield"

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Thank you

Laura Collins

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