Spread of the Indian variant across West Yorkshire is both 'worrying' and 'frustrating'
The West Yorkshire metro mayor says India should have been put on the red list sooner
The Mayor for West Yorkshire feels the government should have acted sooner and put India on the red list to stop the spread of the new Indian variant across the region.
It's after it's spread across several cities across West Yorkshire.
As a result, surge testing and vaccinations will take place in Kirklees.
Tracy Brabin, the West Yorkshire Mayor said:
"It is very disappointing, but we are where we are now, so we have to make sure our businesses can flourish and we can have a robust recovery.
"I do feel local tiering would punish us, we are already struggling. We have an ambitious recovery plan in place and we need government to support us."
Earlier this week, cases were found in a home in Huddersfield, resulting in additional testing at a school in Kirklees.
Rachel Spencer-Henshall, Strategic Director for Public Health at Kirklees Council, said:
“We have been notified of a small number of cases of the new Covid-19 variant, first detected in India, in one household in Huddersfield.
"Close contacts were identified and isolated at the time of the initial positive results. However, now we know this is related to a variant of concern, we must be extra cautious and do everything we can to monitor and prevent its spread.
“Some members of this household are pupils at a local school. So, any pupils or staff at the school classed as a close contact - as well as those they share a household with - are being asked to take a PCR test, to help us to identify any variant of concern cases so that we can contain the spread."
Since then, less than five cases of the Indian variant of COVID-19 have been found in the Wakefield district, the council says they're linked to travel, and the risk to the local community is low.
Anna Hartley, Wakefield Council’s Director of Public Health, said:
“We can confirm that a small number of cases of the Indian variant of COVID-19 have been confirmed in our district. We want to reassure residents that these cases are related to travel and those affected have self-isolated in line with guidance. Any close contacts are also self-isolating. The risk of wider community transmission is extremely low.”