What must happen before Sheffield follows Leeds into local lockdown with strict restrictions

Sheffield could soon be set to join Leeds as an area of intervention, with further restrictions coming into place if the enhanced support is not effective.

The weekly coronavirus rate in Sheffield for the seven days to October 1 now stands at 233.1 new cases per 100,00 people.

There have been new fears over tighter restrictions in Sheffield after nearly 300 Covid-19 cases were recorded in a single day.

The government recently started placing areas with high infection rates into three categories, these are: areas of concern, areas of enhanced support and areas of intervention.

A place can be considered as an area of concern when it has a high number of cases and the local area is taking targeted actions to reduce the infection rates.

Sheffield is currently an ‘area of enhanced support’ on the government’s watchlist, which is one step higher than the previous level of ‘area of concern’ and this is for ‘areas at medium/high risk of intervention’.

This means the city will be in receipt of additional support to prevent further spread of the virus with particular support given to mitigate infection rates among areas with higher case rates.

Support may come in the form of additional testing units and epidemiological expertise in how the virus is spreading in our communities and testing data.

Finally, areas of intervention are when local lockdown measures are introduced to halt the spread of the virus across communities.

The government says this is where there is a "divergence" between the local measures in place to control the spread of coronavirus and national restrictions across England.

No set level of infection triggers new measures to be imposed in an area but if the infection rate exceeds 40 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, it is likely that extra measures will be brought in.

Sheffield’s Director of public health has encouraged everyone to play their part to avoid seeing stricter measures in the city.

Director of Public Health at Sheffield City Council, Greg Fell, said: “Sheffield is still very much in the grip of a pandemic, it is clear we are not out of the woods yet, and as such, we need to keep playing our part to keep each other safe as the pandemic continues to have a presence in our communities. We are trying to balance the impact of a dangerous virus with getting back to some form of normal, but if we continue to see a rise in cases, we will be designated an area of intervention with far stricter measures in place.

“The virus is very easily transmitted, and as we have seen from earlier in the year carries a significant mortality risk.

“This is why it is still important to go back to basics; to keep washing your hands, wearing a face covering, limit social contact, and to isolate if you have covid-19 symptoms.”

What are the local lockdown rules?

Local lockdown rules depend on the severity of Covid-19 in a particular area, but local authorities have the power to cancel events and close outdoor spaces as well as premises.