Ahead of the weekend, public health officials, council leaders and partners are reminding those going out to eat and drink or to attend any social gatherings about the important part they’ll be playing in avoiding further restrictions being put in place across the city.
Visitors to pubs, bars, restaurants and social gatherings in Leeds are being urged to do their bit to keep the city safe following a rise in cases of COVID-19.
The latest data suggests that a lot of the cases are in different areas of the city, meaning they may be linked to social interaction and leisure activities.
The spread is broad and changeable across wards and cases have also been increasingly detected in younger people aged 18-34, with some concern over activities like house parties and gatherings.
While being on the list will not mean any further restrictions on the city at this stage, it does mean increased monitoring of cases and potential additional steps in future if the city’s infection rates do not start to fall.
Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council and chair of the city’s Outbreak Control Board, said:
We have been working tirelessly with our partners and communities, doing everything within our power to keep the spread of this virus under control and to ensure Leeds stays open.
However, we can’t accomplish that alone and this rise in infection rates means that inevitably, our window of opportunity is shrinking by the day and the city is rapidly approaching a tipping point.
We completely understand that these past six months have put a tremendous strain on everyone in Leeds and that being able to get out, socialise and enjoy ourselves has provided a massive lift.
But it is absolutely crucial that if we want to continue to do that, we all do it sensibly and responsibly and follow the latest guidance which is there to keep us all safe.
Victoria Eaton, Leeds City Council’s director of Public Health said:
We’ve seen a tremendous amount of collective determination from people in Leeds to keep their city and each other safe through this crisis.
Now it’s more important than ever that we all dig deep and do what we can to reverse this upward trend in our infection rates and curtail the spread of the virus.
