Leicester City Council has released new information which says Government advice was incorrect in suggesting additional restrictions have been put in place in relation to Covid-19.
It was widely reported this morning that Government guidance said travel in and out of eight areas of the country most affected by a new variant of Covid – including Leicester – should be avoided unless essential.
But further information has now been posted on the City Council website which says the Government has confirmed any suggestion of additional restrictions was incorrect and that people should continue to follow existing national guidelines.
The update, from Leicester’s Director of Public Health, Professor Ivan Browne, says:
“We had an urgent meeting with Government reps and other affected local authorities after we became aware that the Government had updated its website to include specific advice around Leicester and some other areas where the new Covid-19 variant has been identified as spreading.
“These officials confirmed there are no restrictions on travel in or out of each of our areas and it was a mistake to suggest there was.
“There are no local lockdowns and there is no justification for Leicester to be treated differently to the rest of the country.
“As it stands, Leicester has lower rates of the variant than other parts of the country, and we have a plan in place for stepping up our vaccination rate as agreed with the Government last week.
“When making travel arrangements, or mixing indoors, we should all follow the necessary precautions which include ventilating rooms and vehicles if car sharing; wearing a face covering on public transport; and following the rule of two households or six people if meeting indoors.”
More details of current Covid-19 guidance for Leicester are available here.
Leicester Tigers are continuing with preparations to open the doors to Mattioli Woods Welford Road for the match against Bristol Bears on Saturday, June 5 when a reduced crowd of around 6,000 and social distancing measures will be in place.
In such unpredictable times it important for the club to provide supporters with both confidence and peace of mind when purchasing tickets for events at Mattioli Woods Welford Road and we can assure you that all of our tickets, hospitality and events bookings are guaranteed to be refunded in the event that we are unable to allow you to attend due to Government restrictions. This includes any reduced-capacity games or matches played behind closed doors on health and safety grounds.
Tigers are desperately keen to see supporters back in the stadium after such a long absence, but only if it is safe to do so. The club has been working with Premiership Rugby Limited, the RFU and the Sports Grounds Safety Authority to establish a safe return of crowds to the home of the Tigers.
We also hope to welcome larger crowds in line with plans for further relaxation of Covid rules after June 21 with the England v Scotland ‘A’ fixture (Sunday, June 27) and The Varsity Matches (Sunday, July 4) to follow.
Tickets for these games are available now, with the promise of a refund in the event of any changes.
In the event of further reduction in crowd numbers or any movement of the scheduled June 21 announcement, supporters who have booked earliest will have priority on keeping their place, though there may be the need to move your seats within an area.