Leeds news LIVE: Covid variant update | First full weekend of bars and restaurants indoors

Welcome to today's live blog featuring the very latest news from Leeds and beyond from your Yorkshire Evening Post.
Welcome to today's live blog featuring the very latest news from Leeds and beyond from your Yorkshire Evening Post.Welcome to today's live blog featuring the very latest news from Leeds and beyond from your Yorkshire Evening Post.
Welcome to today's live blog featuring the very latest news from Leeds and beyond from your Yorkshire Evening Post.

Keep checking back for latest updates.

Leeds news LIVE: Saturday, May 22

Key Events

  • Knifeman who stabbed Leeds partygoer in back is jailed
  • Firefighters to take part at ‘emergency scenarios’ at site of former Leeds school
  • Travellers to be barred from Germany amid Covid variant spread
  • Traffic very heavy in Leeds city centre

What you might have missed:

The AA said there are “severe delays” on the A58(M) Inner Ring Road Eastbound between A58 Wellington Road and A58 Clay Pit Lane.

The average speed on the road is just 5mph, the AA said.

Traffic is also very heavy around Kirkstall and on many approaches towards the city centre.

UK travellers to be barred from Germany amid Covid variant spread

Britons will soon be barred from entering Germany after the country's Public Health Institute designated the UK as a virus variant area of concern.

From midnight on Sunday, May 23, people travelling to Germany from Great Britain and Northern Ireland may only enter the country if they are a German citizen or resident.

Spouses and children under 18 of a German citizen or resident can also enter, as long as the household are travelling together.

Those with an urgent humanitarian reason such as an immediate family bereavement are also able to enter, however anyone entering the country from the UK must quarantine for two weeks on arrival, even if they test negative for the coronavirus.

People who are only transferring from one flight to another will still be allowed in, however they must remain in the airport transit area.

The move comes after Spain lifted travel restrictions on British visitors, with the country's prime minister Pedro Sanchez saying Spain will be "delighted, extremely delighted" to receive British tourists again.

Spain is lifting its restrictions on travellers from the United Kingdom beginning on Monday.

Germany and Spain are both on the Government's amber list, meaning travellers must quarantine at home for 10 days and take a pre-departure test and two post-arrival tests.

Firefighters to take part in ‘emergency scenarios’ at Hough Top School

Knifeman who stabbed Leeds partygoer in back is jailed