Leeds to face new coronavirus restrictions from midnight

Leeds is likely to face new restrictions from midnight in the fight against Covid-19, including a ban on households mixing, its city council leader has said.

Judith Blake said she expected Leeds will be made an "area of intervention'', meaning "more household restrictions along the lines of those already in force across three of the West Yorkshire districts in Bradford, Kirkless and Calderdale''.

She told reporters: "We expect them to come in from midnight.''

The addition of Leeds' 793,000 population would take the number of people living under local restrictions to more than 16.2 million people across the UK.

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, said: "What we are trying to do is give a simple message - you shouldn't really mix with other households.''

He added: "I think we know from the experience of Leicester, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire that when these restrictions are brought in they do not tend to be lifted after a week or two.''

He's also said the fine details of the restrictions had not been agreed with the Government yet, but the council wanted to let people know what was likely to come in at midnight.

He said it was expected that it would become law that households should not mix inside or in the garden, and that in pubs, restaurants and in public spaces, it would be strong advice that that should not happen.

Leeds director of public health Victoria Eaton said the city's virus rate was 98.5 per 100,000 people with a positive testing rate of 8.4%.

She said: "The spread of the virus is very dynamic across the city.

"It's clear to see we have very widespread community transmissions right across the city.

"We have high rates in some of our student areas which we have increased more recently.

"It's clearly not just an issue for student areas.''

She said cases were rising in all age groups, not just young adults.

She said compliance with self-isolation rules was still low in Leeds.

"We want to find ways to support local people to isolate,'' she said.

"The expectation is the restrictions will be in place for a longer period of time, potentially right through the winter.''