Leicester City Council says government guidance on Covid was "incorrect"
Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth had called for the guidance to be withdrawn
Leicester City Council has said that there are no local lockdowns or travel restrictions due to the spread of the Indian variant and that new advice published on a government website was incorrect
The advice had caused controversy as the City Council had said that they only became aware of updated government advice three days after it was issued.
Professor Ivan Browne, the city's director of Public Health, said “We had an urgent meeting with Government reps and other affected local authorities today (Tuesday, May 25), after we became aware that the Government had updated its website to include specific advice around Leicester and some other areas where the new Covid-19 variant has been identified as spreading.
“These officials confirmed there are no restrictions on travel in or out of each of our areas and it was a mistake to suggest there was. There are no local lockdowns and there is no justification for Leicester to be treated differently to the rest of the country."
“No-one from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) or Public Health England contacted us about this advice, to explain the rationale behind it or give any other information.
“As it stands, Leicester has lower rates of the variant than other parts of the country, and we have a plan in place for stepping up our vaccination rate as agreed with the Government last week.
“We always suggest that people should take a cautious approach and make sensible judgements when restrictions are eased as part of the Government’s roadmap, and that still applies.
“When making travel arrangements, or mixing indoors, we should all follow the necessary precautions which include ventilating rooms and vehicles if car sharing; wearing a face covering on public transport; and following the rule of two households or six people if meeting indoors.”
Meanwhile the Shadow health secretary, MP for Leicester South Jon Ashworth had called for the new guidance to be withdrawn before the council revealed it was incorrect.
Speaking in the commons he said "Why was this guidance plonked on a website on Friday night and not communicated to everyone? Why were local directors of public health and local authority leaders not consulted? Why were MPs not informed?"
"Withdraw this guidance now and convene a meeting this afternoon of the relevant directors of public health to produce a plan."