Public health teams and council leaders in the eight local authority areas hardest hit by the India Covid variant have reacted with shock at “confused messages” from government, after it restricted travel in and out of their areas without telling them.
Bedford and Blackburn BCs, Bolton, Kirklees, and North Tyneside MBCs, Leicester City Council and Hounslow LBC appear to have only been made aware of updates to government travel guidance when they were informed yesterday by journalists, several days after the government updated its own advice online without publicising it.
Last Friday evening, the Cabinet Office website was updated to say that people in those areas should “avoid travelling in and out of affected areas unless it is essential, for example for work (if you cannot work from home) or education”, with no accompanying public announcement.