NEW LONDON LOCKDOWN STRATEGY IS HIT BY CONFUSION
REVEALED: HEALTH CHIEFS AND COUNCILS SAY THEY ARE IN DARK ABOUT HOW LOCAL CURBS WOULD WORK
PLANS to fight a Leicester-style Covid outbreak in London with a string of measures including local lockdowns were revealed today — but town halls warned they needed more information on how they would work.
The plans show how public health chiefs will seek to stop a surge in local cases spiralling out of control and sweeping across the capital.
Many of the blueprints say local lockdowns could be imposed and highlighted existing powers which could be used to combat a coronavirus outbreak, including restricting gatherings and events, closing premises that pose an infection risk to the public and detaining individuals who pose an infection risk to the population.
However, many of the plans also warned that there is a lack of detailed information from the Government on how local lockdowns should be introduced if other measures have failed to stop an outbreak.
Councils also raised concerns over the effectiveness of the test-and-trace system, called for more detailed, up-todate information on new cases in their area to swiftly
identify outbreaks, and pleaded for more funding to tackle the epidemic, particularly in boroughs hardest hit by the killer virus.
Professor Neil Ferguson, head of the Covid-19 response team at Imperial College London, said more local outbreaks were “inevitable” as lockdown is eased, with pubs and restaurants due to re-open on Saturday.
“What’s critically important is that we detect those early and adopt the measures necessary to then locally reduce transmission,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Current areas of concern included the North West, as well as Leicester, Doncaster and Bradford.
Twenty-eight schools will close from tomorrow for most pupils in Leicester as the new emergency restrictions tighten, following the closure of non-essential stores. Mayor Sadiq Khan warned the capital is also at risk of a “deadly second wave” and needs more powers so a local lockdown can be imposed if necessary, with more than 8,000 Londoners having already lost their lives in the pandemic.
At a meeting of the London Health Board, he stressed: “Leicester has just announced an extension of lockdown. We could well be having local challenges.”
While the Government has been accused of major mistakes over Covid, potentially costing thousands of lives, critics have also said that the Mayor could have acted more quickly.
Public health chiefs moved to calm fears of apparent increases in cases in some London boroughs, saying the overall infection rate was “low and steady”. Professor Kevin Fenton, London regional director of Public Health England, said: “We can expect increases in cases but we are in a significantly different place now than we were at the beginning of the pandemic.”
The biggest increases in new cases in London in the last three weeks have been in Hounslow (39 new cases, taking its total to 789), Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham, (both 28), Brent and Ealing (both 26), and Kensington and Chelsea (21), according to Public Health England data.
Many town halls have just finalised their local outbreak control plans which
generally follow a seven-pronged strategy: preventing and managing outbreaks in specific settings such as schools and care homes; preventing and managing outbreaks in other highrisk locations such as workplaces and religious settings; deploying local testing capacity effectively; contact tracing for complex settings and groups; access to local data needed to prevent outbreaks; supporting vulnerable people; and good communications.
Town halls are also planning “surge capacity” to deal with a spike in cases and to call in help from neighbouring boroughs under “mutual aid” arrangements if needed.
Hackney and the City of London Corporation stressed guidance from the Government is still awaited on powers for local lockdowns. Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea also highlighted the lack of guidance on lockdowns from Whitehall.
Brent said that town halls had not been given new lockdown powers but it believes “control measures based on transparency, communication and consensus are much to be preferred being proportionate and likely to be more effective than attempts to enforce behaviour change”.
A LONDON primary school is having all 41 members of staff tested for coronavirus to reassure parents and pupils it is safe to return — as the Government today finalised its plans to get all pupils back into classrooms.
Teachers at the Charles Dickens primary school in Southwark are being tested after classes are over by Richmond Research Institute, a not-forprofit clinical research organisation.
Swab tests for current infections are being carried out as well as the antibody test that reveals if a person had the disease in the past without showing symptoms.
Pupils may also be tested and results will be fed into studies into Covid-19’s spread in communities. The programme comes ahead of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s announcement, expected tomorrow, of detailed measures to get all pupils back into school from September. These are expected to include “whole-year bubbles” to allow setting and streaming in secondaries and a £1 billion fund for tutoring of disadvantaged children.
Headteacher Cassie Buchanan said: “We are committed to opening the school as widely and safely as possible. Testing the teaching staff to see if they are infected or have already had Covid19 will help to provide reassurance and manage behaviours.” She said staff were pleased their results would contribute to wider research into the pandemic.
Local MP Neil Coyle urged the Government to copy the school nationwide, saying the tests costing £100 each were better value than hiring private tutors to help children catch up on lost lessons. “Despite the recent headline announcement that private tutors will
Despite the headlines about tutors, there is no substitute for measures that will enable the safe return of pupils MP Neil Coyle
be mobilised to help make up for the teaching missed by children during lockdown, it is no substitute for implementing measures that will enable the safe return of pupils en masse to their school environment,” he said.
The Charles Dickens school is an example of a central London primary that has been open throughout the pandemic, with many parents who are healthcare workers. Dr Jorg Taubel, founder of Richmond Research Institute and CEO of Richmond Pharmacology, said the tests, which are being provided at a £30 discount, could help “enable children to receive their right to education once again”.
The Government hoped to get all primary school pupils back in lessons this month but had to abandon this as a target after many parents proved to be too nervous to send their children and unions complained that there was not enough space. Mr Williamson is set to announce that classes of 30 can be taught rather than the current maximum of 15.
A DfE spokesperson said: “There are a number of research studies ongoing through which we hope to learn more about Covid-19, and the Government welcomes those.” Currently the Government offers testing to staff and pupils only if they display symptoms.