Covid national lockdown prompts Leeds City Council services review as leader Judith Blake urges vigilance

The plea from Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake followed a televised statement from Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday night that confirmed a third national lockdown was to begin.

He ordered the country to stay indoors other than for limited exceptions and bowed to significant pressure to order primary schools, secondaries and colleges to move to remote teaching for the majority of students from yesterday.

The move came in response to rising Covid-19 infection rates that have seen the country's hospital admissions and daily death toll increasing, while medical teams in some areas are struggling to cope.

Coun Blake said: "Following the recent announcement of another national lockdown, along with the recent rise in rates in Leeds, we must continue to work extremely hard to protect our health service and keep ourselves and each other safe.

"It is vitally important that at this crucial moment we strictly follow the guidance in place if we are to reduce transmission, which includes staying at home as much as possible, social distancing during essential journeys, regularly washing hands and wearing face masks.

"The recent mutation of the virus makes it much easier for it to spread and so we must now be extra vigilant to avoid our hospitals becoming overwhelmed."

Mr Johnson said the new variant of coronavirus, which is up to 70 per cent more transmissible, was spreading in a "frustrating and alarming" manner and warned that the number of Covid-19 patients in English hospitals is 40 per cent higher than the first peak.

A further 21 patients with Covid-19 were admitted to Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust sites on December 27 - the most recent date for which figures are available.

As of December 30, 146 patients remained in hospital including nine people in mechanical ventilation beds. The highest number of Covid patients being treated on any one day at the trust's hospitals was 331 on November 22, with the most patients in mechanical ventilation beds being reported as 45 on April 23.

Meanwhile, there were 2,011 coronavirus cases confirmed in the seven days to December 30, meaning Leeds has an infection rate of 253.5 per 100,000 people. This was up by more than a third on the previous seven-day period.

Coun Blake said yesterday: "We are currently assessing how this next level of restrictions will affect local services, facilities and visitor attractions and we will be updating our website shortly, along with the latest government guidance.

"With partners, we are now moving forward with a major rollout of vaccinations in Leeds, which does in these very testing times, offer a real light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against coronavirus. We must, in the meantime, continue to dig deep to keep the virus under control to protect ourselves and each other."

With the approval of both the Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines, it is expected that the long-awaited mass vaccination programme will begin to gather pace across the country in the coming weeks.

The first vaccinations are being offered to people in the priority groups identified by the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunisation, starting with people in care homes and those aged 80 and over.

Groups of GP practices are working together to provide vaccines from local centres and in care homes, with NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group advising that eligible patients will be contacted when it is their turn.

Meanwhile, vaccines for frontline health and care workers are also being offered at hospital 'hubs' to protect staff who are at the greatest risk of catching Covid-19.

Mr Johnson said: "The weeks ahead will be the hardest yet but I really do believe that we're entering the last phase of the struggle, because with every jab that goes into our arms we're tilting the odds against Covid and in favour of the British people."

He said people in the top four priority groups would be offered a first vaccine dose by mid-February "if things go well and with a fair wind in our sails", to allow restrictions to be eased.

It is thought that measures are unlikely to be relaxed until around 13 million people aged over 70 or classed as extremely clinically vulnerable have received the vaccine and been given enough time to be protected - about two to three weeks after getting the jab.

But Mr Johnson issued a series of ifs - on the public following the rules and understanding of the virus not dramatically shifting - before the nation can start "cautiously" moving down through tiered restrictions with schools reopening after the February half-term.

He told the public to follow the lockdown rules immediately before they become law in the early hours of today.

The regulations were due to be published yesterday, while MPs will retrospectively be given a vote today when they are recalled early from the Christmas break.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust was invited to comment.

Also in news: England’s national lockdown may stay in place until March - what we know so far

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