Leeds 'could move into highest Covid alert level'

The City of Leeds is on tier 2 but on a government watch list and could move to Tier 3

The city of Leeds could be placed in the highest coronavirus alert level, council leaders have said.

Councillors believe the government's preference is for more areas to follow the Liverpool City Region into the highest level of the new three-tier system.

Leeds is currently "high alert", or amber, on the traffic light system.

The city council said discussions with the government were continuing and it wanted extra support for businesses.

The current Covid-19 infection rate in Leeds is 422 cases per 100,000 people, with positive cases in hospitals doubling in a week.

High alert restrictions include different households not being allowed to mix indoors but able to meet outdoors, as long as there are no more than six people.

Moving up to very high alert restrictions, like those in Liverpool, include not socialising with anybody you do not live with or have formed a support bubble with, in any indoor setting or in any private garden or at most outdoor hospitality venues and ticketed events.

Pubs and bars must close, and can only remain open where they operate as if they were a restaurant.

Council chief executive Tom Riordan said: "This is a really pivotal moment for us again and there is a prospect that we could go into tier three.

"At the moment, the judgement has been that we should go into tier two.

"We support that, but the data changes every day and we need to just look at the epidemiology as well and see where the virus is spreading in settings and whether the extra restrictions in tier three are justified."

• England's new Covid alert system explained

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Judith Blake, leader of the council, added: "All of the areas that were in discussions with Number 10 since the announcement last week have been told, with the exception of Liverpool City Region, that we are going into tier two, but we are on what they would describe as a watch list and we will have further discussions this week.

"I think the preference from Number 10 would be for more areas to go into tier three but we need to have a much better understanding of the full implications of moving into tier three."

Neighbouring Bradford was praised by the government's chief medical officer Chris Whitty for the efforts it has made to control the spread of coronavirus.

He said: "Bradford actually has shown superb leadership. The local authority has, the directors of public health have, the local NHS have in the way they have tackled."

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