Leeds Council marks tragic milestone as city's Covid death toll passes 1,000

More than 1,000 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Leeds, new figures show.
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Leeds City Council confirmed that the city reached the tragic milestone yesterday when 10 new deaths were registered.

This takes overall number of Covid-related deaths registered in Leeds to 1,003.

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This figure includes deaths in care homes and people who died outside of a hospital environment.

More than 1,000 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Leeds, new figures show.More than 1,000 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Leeds, new figures show.
More than 1,000 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Leeds, new figures show.

It comes as the city moves into Tier 3 level restrictions as the second national lockdown is lifted.

Council leader Judith Blake has expressed hope that the city could be in Tier 2 by Christmas, due to drops to the city's Covid infection rate.

A consistent downward trend in the city’s infection rates over the past few weeks has continued, with Leeds having 200.8 cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 9.6% as of Monday.

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Less than a month ago (November 3) the infection rate stood at 422.9 cases per 100,000, with a positivity rate of 16.6%.

Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “This tragic and sobering milestone demonstrates that the virus continues to take a profound toll on the lives of residents and families in Leeds, a sad fact which should be foremost in all of our minds when we think about our actions in the coming weeks.

“There’s no question that we have seen some real, tangible progress over these past few weeks, both in terms of our infection rates in Leeds and the support we have in place for local businesses and contact tracing.

"Maintaining this progress will give us a real chance of moving to less severe Tier 2 restrictions when tiers are reviewed on December 16.

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“It is imperative that we do not squander the positive steps we have made and put further lives in jeopardy by failing to do everything in our individual and collective power to protect ourselves and each other.”

Leeds will move into Tier 3 restrictions on Wednesday, December 2.

This 'Very High' Covid alert level means non-essential shops can reopen but pubs, bars and restaurants must remain closed.

Household mixing will be banned anywhere indoors.

The council has expressed an interest in joining the government’s programme of large community testing for Tier 3.

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It also stated that it will work closely with health colleagues and others across the city to make preparations for future vaccination programmes.

How many people are to face tough restrictions?

More than 55 million people will be placed into Tier 2 and Tier 3 measures on December 2, meaning mixing between households indoors will effectively be banned for the vast majority of the country.

Only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – accounting for little more than 1% of England’s population – face the lightest Tier 1 coronavirus restrictions.

Large swathes of Yorkshire, the Midlands, North East and North West are in the most restrictive Tier 3, which accounts for 41.5% of the population, or 23.3 million people.

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The majority of authorities – including London – will be in Tier 2, which will cover 57.3% of the country, or 32 million people

Mr Johnson has said the allocation of tiers will be reviewed every 14 days from that date and suggested mass testing could make households exempt from restrictions.

He also said that at the first review of the measures in mid-December he would move areas down a tier where there is “robust evidence” that coronavirus is in sustained decline.

He has written to Tory MPs offering them another chance to vote on the restrictions early next year, saying the legislation will have a “sunset of February 3”.

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That vote after Christmas will determine whether the tier system stays in place until the end of March.

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