Leeds and the rest of West Yorkshire will soon enter Level 3 but no decision has been made, with more talks scheduled for tomorrow, Leeds Live Understood.
This morning, Leeds City Council held a briefing presenting the latest data for the city, Where the infection rate was recorded at 420.6 cases per 100,000 In the seven days through October 22, up from 382.2 the week before.
An attendee said the dire situation at Leeds hospitals – which are understood to be 98 percent full – was the main driver of the desire to place the entire county in the toughest set of coronavirus restrictions.
Talks between council leaders for all five West Yorkshire local authorities – Leeds, Bradford, Kirkles, Calderdale and Wakefield – are scheduled to take place tomorrow with the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
A source said that while it is unlikely that a decision will be made today on Level 3 Leeds, a tangible announcement will definitely happen sometime soon. However, this will remain unclear exactly.
Follow our live updates on Level 3 chats in our dedicated blog Here
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust accepted They now have more people in hospital now than at the height of the epidemic in April. With 263 patients in their beds who have tested positive for Covid-19, including Hospital 22 in intensive care.
Leeds Live It is understood that the city’s hospitals are 98 percent full, compared to 60 percent in April.
Staff are said to have performed more elective surgeries to clear the backlog caused by the pandemic, and as a result there are more people in the hospital using more beds, raising concerns that more clinical staff will be needed in the intensive care units.
Talks between West Yorkshire and the government about placing the county at Level 3 – as pubs and bars without food will be closed – have been going on for a number of weeks.
South Yorkshire and Lancashire, the Liverpool city area, Greater Manchester and Warrington have already been placed at level 3, while the BBC reported that Nottinghamshire will enter the highest alert level at 00.01 on Friday.
The restrictions mean people are prevented from mixing anywhere indoors and outdoors, including private gardens and beer gardens.
Kirklees’ political leaders are resisting the move to place their city in Level 3, Saying any such move would be “destructive.”
In a statement last night, the Kirkles Board Disease Control Board said: “The high infection rates in Kirkles and the pressure on the NHS is something that we must take seriously, and we need to do everything we can to improve this situation so that we can save lives. However, we do not believe that Level 3 restrictions are the best way to do this.
“The closure of our pubs and bars will have a devastating effect on our economy and people’s livelihoods, and we have not seen evidence that this will directly affect infection rates.
“Instead, we need to continue the work that we do at the local level, on the ground, in our communities. We are already seeing positive results from this work, with Kirkleys now having the lowest rates in West Yorkshire. We are urging the government to give us more resources to build. on this.
“We are concerned about the mental health of the people in Kirkles, and many of them have been under local restrictions since July. Preventing people from visiting each other’s gardens would be a big blow during an already very difficult period.”
However, the source said that while their resistance may be behind the slow progress of the talks, Kirkless’s numbers were not far from Leeds and would catch up with her within a week.
They added that four of the five councils in West Yorkshire had an injury rate of over 400, with Kirkles not far behind.
The West Yorkshire Joint Authority was contacted for comment.
