Coronavirus: Leeds could face 'movement restrictions'

Leeds currently has the second highest coronavirus infection rate in Yorkshire

People living in Leeds could face "movement restrictions" if the spread of Covid-19 continues to worsen, a council officer has said.

Mariana Pexton, Leeds City Council's chief corporate support officer, said they needed younger people to abide by the restrictions.

The city's latest seven-day infection rate was 47.9 cases per 100,000 people.

Ms Pexton told a council meeting "if we need to, we will need to consider movement restrictions".

Leeds was added to Public Health England's list as an "area of concern" on Friday, following a rise in coronavirus cases.

At that time the city's seven-day infection rate was 32.5 cases per 100,000 people.

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Ms Pexton told the strategy and resources scrutiny board: "We have two very different patterns emerging - one is community clusters which we are working on and are turning around, Kirkstall has definitely turned around and Harehills is definitely stable now.

"But we have this more dynamic pattern now of young people, across the city. It is more to do with social gatherings, coming back from holiday and exam celebrations.

"We are ramping communications up to tackle that and stem that flow of the increase."

She said the council needed to be "proportionate and measured" in any reaction, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Leeds currently has the second highest coronavirus infection rate in Yorkshire, behind Bradford with 70.6 cases per 100,000 people.

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