Leeds’ chief civil servant has warned that the city is “celebrating” the National Covid-19 Watch List.
Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan claimed he does not believe the city is still in a phase where it should consider implementing local lockdown measures, such as those seen in Kirkles, Bradford and Calderdale in recent weeks, but he cautioned the rate of cases in the city was rising. .
He said, “Our test rates are very high now, which is a good thing because that’s what we have to do to stay on top of things.”
“Our condition is now in our mid-twenties, so it’s 25 or 26 in our daily average for seven days.
“We are on the radar of the national gold meeting, but we are not yet at a stage where we are likely to ask for restrictions on movement, in our opinion, as the councils near us should have done so.”
The latest Leeds numbers have been published and show the infection rate is rising.
Leeds had an infection rate of 31.4 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days through August 29. This represents 249 new cases.
