MAYOR CALLS FOR CLARITY ON HOW TO GET OUT OF LOCKDOWN
MAYOR SENDS 7-PAGE PAPER CALLING FOR GREATER CLARITY ON WHAT’S NEEDED TO RELEASE LEICESTER FROM RESTRICTIONS
SIR Peter Soulsby has said the Leicester lockdown will be nothing more than a gesture if the government does not state exactly what is needed to release the city from tighter restrictions.
The city mayor has accused the government of not being clear about what would be an acceptable level of infection to trigger a release of the tighter restrictions now imposed on the city and surrounding suburbs.
They will last until at least July 18 and could be extended for a further fortnight at least if the government and Public Health England (PHE) say the risk of infection is still high.
Sir Peter has set out the demand for greater clarity in a seven-page paper he has sent to Health Secretary Matt Hancock in which he outlines five key things he believes need to happen to free the city from lockdown.
In the paper, the mayor also accuses the government of making misleading claims over the provision of key information needed to tackle the spread of coronavirus in the city, claiming that crucial information was withheld from public health teams on the ground.
Sir Peter, who has been the target of government briefings to national newspapers, has described the document as a “blow by blow account” of the fractious dealings between the Department of Health and Social Care and Leicester City Council as the Leicester lockdown crisis has unfolded over the weeks.
‘MISLEADING CLAIMS’
He said he wanted to set the record straight, particularly after health minister Nadine Dorries accused him of “failing to accept” the data showing there was a problem in the city.
Sir Peter has stressed that crucial information was not available to him or his public health staff.
He said: “There have been misleading claims from government sources about what data and information has been provided to us in Leicester and when.
“We must clarify what data we need and what will constitute success in defeating the virus in Leicester.”
Sir Peter said: “Testing still needs to be stepped up.
“We require postcodes to give lower super output area (areas of mostly 2,000 people or less), figures, ethnicity and, where appropriate, workplace.
“We must have negative results with the same information to identify local ‘positivity rates.’ The only way we can really know the rate in the community is by random sampling.
“Then we can understand the level of infection and not just the figures for those who, for whatever reason, present themselves for testing. “Household-level contact tracing data is essential to enable our local teams to support those required to self-isolate (and to ensure they are doing it), if they have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive. “And if this period of enforced lock-down is to be anything more than a gesture to warn the rest of the country, Public Health England needs to state definitively what level of results constitute an acceptable level of infection. “We need to know how this will be measured, otherwise we could end up in a protracted lockdown or end up leaving our isolation on the same wholly inadequate basis used to take us into it.”
The Mercury asked the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to define the precise conditions required to lift the local lockdown. A DHSC spokesman said: “We continue to work closely with local authorities in Leicester and our focus is on further curbing the spread of the virus so these necessary restrictions can be removed as soon as possible.”
The spokesperson added: “All councils in England now have the ability to access testing data, right down to an individual and postcode level.
“PHE has already been providing this data to directors of public health in the event of an outbreak so they can take all necessary action to curb the spread.”
The DHSC said the priority has always been to ensure public health bodies, such as PHE, have the data they need.
“PHE then share relevant data with their locally-based Health Protection Teams, who work with local councils and directors of public health.”
It also said PHE routinely shares data with local directors of public health to support outbreak management, including pillar two data - testing in the community - that Sir Peter said was not available until latterly.
Sir Peter has said an initial copy of a PHE report sent to him in the days leading up to the local lockdown suggested only extending existing restrictions for a two-week period, that is, not allowing pubs, restaurants and hairdressers to reopen on July 4.
He said that recommendation, which he believed would not have been effective in controlling the existing problem with infections, was removed from a later version of the report used to make the decision to close schools and nonessential retail.