Public health teams and council leaders in the eight local authority areas hardest hit by the India Covid variant have reacted with shock at “confused messages” from government, after it restricted travel in and out of their areas without telling them.
Bedford and Blackburn BCs, Bolton, Kirklees, and North Tyneside MBCs, Leicester City Council and Hounslow LBC appear to have only been made aware of updates to government travel guidance when they were informed yesterday by journalists, several days after the government updated its own advice online without publicising it.
Last Friday evening, the Cabinet Office website was updated to say that people in those areas should “avoid travelling in and out of affected areas unless it is essential, for example for work (if you cannot work from home) or education”, with no accompanying public announcement.
Residents in eight Indian variant hotspot areas have been told “there are no local lockdowns” after the Government was accused of bringing in new Covid-19 restrictions “by stealth”.
Guidance urging people in areas with high levels of the strain to restrict their socialising and travel was added to the Government website on Friday, but local leaders said they had not been made aware.
In a joint statement on Tuesday the directors of public health in Burnley, Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Bolton, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside effectively said the advice could be disregarded, saying it had been confirmed there is no restriction on travel in and out of the areas.
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image captionThe confusion comes days after mobile testing sites were opened in the borough
Health chiefs have said North Tyneside is open for business after confusion caused by government travel guidelines.
The government had urged people to avoid travelling in and out of the borough to combat the spread of the so-called Indian variant of Covid-19.
The advice sparked major confusion for residents and businesses.
Now the Department for Health has said it will amend advice to say there are no legal restrictions in place but is still asking people to minimise travel.
image copyrightNorth Tyneside Council
Live as Nadhim Zahawi explains new Covid rules
The Health Secretary had been called on to answer an urgent question on the latest Covid-19 restrictions in some parts of England
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Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has been called to Parliament to answer an urgent question on new lockdown rules issued to eight areas in England where the Indian variant of Covid-19 is surging.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock had been called but Nadhim Zahawi arrived to answer the questions.
The updated advice issued on Friday – which is not law – was published on the Government website without an official announcement, encouraging people in areas including Kirklees and the London borough of Hounslow not to meet indoors in a bid to spread the halt of the highly-transmissible mutation.