Bradford and Kirklees among 20 areas receiving financial support from the government
The areas will receive a tailored package to ease the pressure over the winter months
Bradford and Kirklees are among 20 areas in the UK to receive extra financial support from the government to help alleviate pressures over the winter this year.
It comes as Bradford was one of the first areas to be put in 'local lockdown' restrictions in summer 2020, and alongside Kirklees and West Yorkshire faced some form of pandemic restrictions for longer than many other parts of the country.
With 12 of the 20 areas from the North and 8 from the North West, the government are keen to create a class support package as part of its plan to "upgrade the north".
Measures are being brought in to help under-pressure local authorities deal with high infection rates - starting with the four authorities of Bolton, Luton, Blackburn with Darwen and Leicester, which are to be categorised as areas of "enduring transmission".
Those areas will get tailored packages of support until at least March 2022.
But 16 further areas - Bradford, Rochdale, Slough, Bristol, Peterborough, Oldham, Sandwell, Kirklees, Preston, Hartlepool, Tameside, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Ealing, Manchester and Hyndburn - are all part of another plan by the Department of Health and Social Care and the new UK Health Security Agency.
The tailored package includes:
- Access to testing capacity and communication support for targeted testing
- Support to plan and maintain public health workforces
- Capacity to support workplaces and businesses to be COVID-secure
- Vaccine programme support
- Data and insight support to help develop what works in the area