Lockdown in Leicester: Now it’s the backlash
Confusion on Whitehall’s ‘drip-feeding’ as city pleads for bailout
A FURIOUS row broke out yesterday over the Government’s decision to put Leicester back in lockdown.
The city’s mayor demanded a new bailout for struggling businesses and police complained they needed clear instructions on enforcing restrictions.
The local police commissioner also criticised the ‘drip-feeding’ of information from Whitehall to agencies on the ground. There was anger that a map showing which parts of the city and surrounding areas were subject to the lockdown only emerged ‘well after’ it had been announced.
Niall Dickson, head of the NHS Confederation, which represents health service providers, said the lockdown had been ‘clouded in confusion’, warning: ‘What has happened in Leicester could well be repeated elsewhere and we need a transparent approach for any future local lockdowns with clear accountability and public messages that are transparent, consistent and timely.’
Leicester mayor Sir Peter Soulsby called for a bailout and said he was ‘very, very concerned’ about the economic impact on the city, which has seen a spike in coronavirus cases in the past two weeks.
Non-essential shops that reopened a fortnight ago were told to close yesterday and schools must shut once more to most pupils from today. The nationwide easing of restrictions this Saturday – including the reopening of pubs, hair salons and restaurants – will not extend to the city.
Residents were advised to stay at home as much as possible and warned against all but essential travel. The lockdown zone includes 147 local authority- controlled schools which must close tomorrow except for the children of key workers.
The zone also takes in 239 restaurants, 196 hair salons or barbers and 182 pubs.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said any Leicester employers who have used the furlough scheme up to now could re-furlough employees. Yesterday shopping streets in the city centre continued to throng with people. Leicestershire Police Federation said it would be ‘impossible’ to manage the solely by relying on the public’s ‘common sense’.
Figures released by Leicester City Council yesterday showed that 3,216 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed since the start of the epidemic, with almost a third of those – 944 – reported in the last two weeks. Alarmingly, the percentage of young people aged 18 and under being diagnosed with the virus in Leicester has trebled from five per cent to 15 per cent over the last six weeks.
Dr Jon Bennett, of Glenfield Hospital in the city, said staff first noticed an ‘upsurge’ in coronavirus admissions three weekends ago. A quarter of the hospital’s 80 current Covid patients are now on oxygen support.
Dave Stokes, of Leicestershire Police Federation, said his members would be assessing the ‘practicalities’ of the new lockdown.
He added: ‘It’s essential we get clarity from the Government as soon as possible on what the public can and can’t do in this targeted lockdown. As we have seen over recent weeks and months, if the guidance and messaging from Government is confusing for the public then it will be almost impossible for our colleagues to police.
‘We still wait for confirmation on what our colleagues’ exact roles will be in policing, and potentially enforcing, this “Leicester Lockdown”, and what legislation our members will be asked to use. We have seen examples from across the country that “common sense” is impossible to police.’ Police and Crime Commissioner Lord Willy Bach accepted the new lockdown was justified, but added: ‘Amazingly we were not even provided with a map of the (lockdown) area until well after the announcement. That has now been issued, but, unfortunately, we received minimal guidance regarding practical implementation at the time the measures were imposed.
‘I have a great deal of sympathy with the agencies charged with delivery. They needed clarity from the start and I am astonished that it is being drip-fed as the day progresses.’ He said Leicestershire Police will ‘continue to use the four Es (Engage, Explain, Encourage, Enforce)’, but warned that without additional legislation, officers’ powers remain limited.
Earlier yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said extra testing in Leicester over the last ten days had found an ‘unusually high incidence’ of Covid-19 in children.
‘Clouded in confusion’
He added: ‘Therefore, because children can transmit the disease – even though they are highly unlikely to get ill from the disease – we think the safest thing to do is close the schools.
Leicester is one of the most ethnically diverse places in the UK, where only 45 per cent of the 330,000 population identify as white British. The city’s infection rate is three times higher than in Bradford – the next worst-affected area. Doctors in
Leicester say they first noticed a surge in cases three weeks ago – but it was not until yesterday that the Government published full data showing the extent of the outbreak. The Department of Health said: ‘Public Health England began continuously sharing data with the local director of public health as soon as a spike in cases was identified.’