Leeds lockdown end warning: Lifting Covid restrictions 'harder than last summer' as rates remain high

Leeds City Council's health chief has warned that lifting Covid restrictions will be more difficult than last summer, as the city's infection rates remain high.
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The rate of infection in Leeds has been steadily falling since the beginning of January, however the decline has leveled off in the last week.

The rate now stands at 165 new cases per 100,000 people - which is 13,000 new cases every week, or 200 cases a day.

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The council's director of public health, Victoria Eaton, said this makes lifting restrictions more difficult than last summer, when rates were as low as four new cases per 100,000 people.

Lifting Covid restrictions will be more difficult than last summer, Leeds Council's health chief said, as the city's infection rates remain highLifting Covid restrictions will be more difficult than last summer, Leeds Council's health chief said, as the city's infection rates remain high
Lifting Covid restrictions will be more difficult than last summer, Leeds Council's health chief said, as the city's infection rates remain high

Speaking at a council briefing on coronavirus this morning, Ms Eaton said: "Overall, there has been an improving picture and we’re hugely positive about the progress of the vaccine. It’s been a phenomenal team effort across the city.

"The pressure in the hospitals is easing, they’re in a more positive position now with the number of Covid patients they have.

"We know the city is really optimistic about the things they are looking forward to doing - and we share this positive optimism.

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"However, our rates are still really high. This is a really different situation going into the lifting of restrictions than last summer.

Ms Eaton said people in Leeds need to do everything they can to get infection rates down before restrictions are lifted (Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)Ms Eaton said people in Leeds need to do everything they can to get infection rates down before restrictions are lifted (Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)
Ms Eaton said people in Leeds need to do everything they can to get infection rates down before restrictions are lifted (Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Wire)

"Despite all the optimism, we are really conscious that we’re going into this with higher rates and nearly all the cases in Leeds are the new UK variant, which we know is more contagious and tends to spark off new cases.

"We need to go slow and steady, we’re not out of the woods yet. There will be bumps along the road with this and we’ve seen some flattening of the decline this week.

"We need to do everything we can to redouble our efforts to get that down."

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Ms Eaton said people in Leeds need to do everything they can to get infection rates down before restrictions are lifted.

"The major thing in the long term is the vaccination programme", she said.

“We really need to have as many people vaccinated as possible, working through the priority groups as quickly as possible.

“But also that we have good confidence in the vaccine across communities in the city. We don’t want to have patchy take-up.

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“We’re doing huge amount of work in local communities to increase uptake as people are called.

Ms Eaton stressed that following guidelines was crucial during the ‘transition period’ that Leeds is in now, where the impact of vaccinations is yet to have an impact.

She added: “Washing hands and keeping social distance, and ‘acting like you have the virus’ really makes a difference to keep the rates down .”

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