People in Southport and across the Liverpool City Region are being urged to minimise travel in and out of our area.
In an announcement this afternoon (June 14), Health Secretary Matt Hancock has now included the Liverpool City Region along with five other areas of England – Birmingham, Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Blackpool and Warrington.
The guidance has been made due to rising Covid-19 rates and the spread of the Delta (Indian) variant.
Additional government support has also been provided.
It is the same as announced for Greater Manchester and Lancashire last week and will include surge testing, tracing, isolation support and maximising vaccine uptake.
Mr Hancock said: “We are doing everything we can to stop the spread of the Delta variant, and working with local authorities, we are providing a strengthened package of support in areas where cases of the variant are increasing.
“We know this approach has made a real impact in south London and in Bolton where we have seen it stall rising cases.
“I urge people living in these areas to get tested, come forward for your vaccine as soon as you are eligible and make sure to get the all-important second jab – that is how we will beat this virus.”
This support will be led by local authorities, which will have a range of help offered. It includes:
– Additional resources to help local authorities with testing, logistics, planning and workforce to assist with testing, door-to-door visits to engage with residents and other activities. These may come from the Surge Rapid Response Teams, from military aid or other sources depending on requirements.
– Wastewater testing samples being prioritised for sequencing
– Specialist communications support to increase awareness and focus engagement with disadvantaged groups
– Maximising vaccine uptake by expanding existing channels, developing new capacity and increasing local and targeted communications to reach different communities;
– Supervised in-school testing and discretion to reintroduce face coverings in indoor communal areas and classrooms in schools if they and directors of public health decide it is appropriate;
– Surge testing and enhanced contact tracing; and
– Enhanced monitoring (genomic sequencing, genotype assay testing).
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