Calls for clarity as people told not to travel in and out of Indian Covid variant hotspots lutontoday.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lutontoday.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The governmentâs shambolic presentation of new guidelines for certain areas undermines the fight to control the B.1.617.2 variant
Coronavirus signage in Bolton town centre. âThe government appears content to hand responsibility, should anything go wrong, to those who fail to âexercise their judgmentâ wisely.â Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Coronavirus signage in Bolton town centre. âThe government appears content to hand responsibility, should anything go wrong, to those who fail to âexercise their judgmentâ wisely.â Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
Tue 25 May 2021 13.56 EDT
Last modified on Tue 25 May 2021 15.01 EDT
During the first phase of the Covid pandemic, councils were driven to despair by the governmentâs failure to consult with them adequately or utilise local public health expertise. Last May, for example, as infection rates spiralled in the north-east, numerous northern councils defied Whitehallâs decree that all primary sc
Search British govt imposes ‘lockdown by stealth’ in areas identified as Indian variant hotspots The guidance, updated on a government website, applies to Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside
The British government has caused utter confusion by urging people not to travel in or out of eight areas identified as Indian variant hotspots unless their journeys are “essential”.
The guidance, updated on a government website, applies to Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside.
Most have sizeable Indian or Pakistani populations.
Leicester, where Keith Vaz was the Labour MP for over 30 years, is the city where Indians settled after being expelled from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972. It hosts the biggest Diwali celebrations outside of India.
Government advises against travel to parts of North due to Indian variant THE Government is advising people to avoid all non-essential travel in and out of North Tyneside due to the spread of the Indian Covid variant. The borough is one of eight council areas in England that should be avoided “unless it is essential”, according to guidance on the Government’s website. The stricter advice appears to have been published online on Friday without an official announcement being made – and it contradicts comments made by North Tyneside’s public health director on Monday afternoon. The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands there was no communication between central government and North Tyneside Council before the advice to avoid the borough was published.
However, the new guidelines “are thought to have taken everyone by surprise, including Bolton’s public health directors and councillors”, says The Bolton News. Other local councils also said they were not informed of the changes, which would affect around two million people, until last night.
Wendy Burke, director of public health at North Tyneside Council, one of the high-risk areas, issued a statement saying that the change on the government website was not “accompanied by any communication”, says The Northern Echo, while Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, asked: “If this guidance was so important, why did no one know about it?”