Government advises against all but essential travel in and out of Leicester

The government has issued new Covid-19 guidance to those living and working in Leicester that they should meet outside rather than inside where possible and avoid travelling and and out of affected areas unless it is “essential”.

The move comes in response to the rise in cases in the city of the B.1.617.2 variant of Covid-19, which the government says spreads more easily from person to person.

While the new guidance is just that – and not law – it will dismay some in the city who had to live under lockdown conditions for a year before restrictions began to be eased in March of this year.

The change in guidance was made last Friday (May 21), but no official government announcement was made at the time. Some 8,000 football fans attended the Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspure game on Sunday afternoon.

In April, TheBusinessDesk.com hosted a webinar looking at the Leicester economy. Glynis Wright MBE, partner at law firm Nelsons, said that the last 12 months had been a “rollercoaster” of a year: “The longest imagineable,” she added.

“In Leicester we’ve had the difficulty of ongoing lockdown. We’ve had to get our staff through this, and at times it been hard to motivate them. There have been major issued for all businesses.”

The government guidance also covers Bedford, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, North Tyneside and Hounslow.