All people living in Greater Manchester and Lancashire are now advised to “minimise travel” due to fears over the Indian Delta Covid variant, though Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has told people not to cancel trips because of the new guidelines. The Government hopes to tackle the Delta strain with a “strengthened package of support”, focusing particularly on additional Covid testing. The Mirror has the story.
The Government’s Covid advice was updated today, to expand the areas advised to only travel in and out of the area if necessary.
At the end of May, the Government faced criticism after it updated guidance for people in Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow, and North Tyneside, where the India variant had started to surge.
The information was posted in an online update at Gov.uk on May 21st but it was not accompanied by an official announcement.
Today, the areas covered by the guidance were updated to include the Greater Manchester Combined Authority… and Lancashire County Council…
Asked about the change, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Health Secretary has talked about that in the House.
“He wants to provide the package of support that has been effective in Bolton to a wider area, so that’s Greater Manchester and all of Lancashire County Council, to tackle the cases of the Delta variant.”
After the advice was updated, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: “I can tell the House that today working with local authorities, we are providing a strengthened package of support based on what’s working in Bolton, to help Greater Manchester and Lancashire tackle the rise in the Delta variant that we’re seeing there.
“This includes rapid response teams, putting in extra testing, military support and supervised in-school testing. I want to encourage everyone in Manchester and Lancashire to get the tests on offer.”…
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham told locals not to cancel trips because of the new guidance.
“It’s very important to keep a sense of proportion,” he told a press conference today.
“This is guidance… it is not a lockdown, it is not a ban.”
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