South Yorkshire mayor urges county to be "incredibly vigilant" in face of Indian variant
Dan Jarvis says local leaders are keeping a close eye on the situation
Last updated 18th May 2021
South Yorkshire's metro mayor tells us the county must be "incredibly vigilant" after the spread of the Indian Covid variant across the UK.
Cases of the strain, which is thought to be more transmissible, have risen over in the North West where the vaccine rollout's being accelerated.
The latest data suggests South Yorkshire hasn't seen a significant outbreak of the variant yet, but the Sheffield City Region mayor tells us local leaders are keeping a close eye on the situation.
Dan Jarvis said:
"I think it's something that we have to be incredibly vigilant about. It's a really good and positive thing that we are now able to take steps to unlock our economy - it gives us an opportunity to move back towards some sense of normality. But at the same time we're not quite out of the woods yet and people do need to be sensible.
"We've got very well developed plans to make sure that every possible precaution is taken. We've seen obviously what's happened in the North West, and the increased vaccination progamme that's been taking place in places like Bolton and I think that's very much to be welcomed.
"So we're very mindful of the risks of it spreading into South Yorkshire and elsewhere."
It comes as there are worries the rise of the Indian Covid variant could knock the government's roadmap off course and threaten the lifting of all restrictions planned for 21st June.
Yesterday we were given more freedoms in the biggest easing of lockdown so far.
Dan says it's a tricky situation:
"Obviously there's real concern about the impact that the Indian variant is having and we're mindful of that, so we'll be keeping a close eye on it. But as soon as we can get back to normal and as soon as we can get our economy ticking over for the benefit of all communities, that's what we want to do."
Julia Burrows, Director of Public Health for Barnsley said:
“We are well prepared to deal with any variants of concern found in Barnsley.
“If there are any variants of concern and/or variants under investigation here, they will have contact tracing carried out, and as with anyone testing positive for COVID-19, need to self-isolate.
“Our public health advice remains the same, whatever variant of COVID-19. Continue with the basics of Hands, Face, Space and Fresh Air – especially with regards to meeting people outside rather than inside, to help to protect against all COVID-19 variants. Get your vaccination when invited and if you have any symptoms, no matter how mild, get a PCR test and isolate.”