MAYOR’S UPDATE ON CORONAVIRUS SITUATION IN SOUTH YORKSHIRE

Published 5 November 2020 at 9:15am

Following the Chancellor’s announcement and the new national COVID restrictions which came into force from 00:01 on Thursday 5 November, Dan Jarvis, Mayor of the Sheffield City Region, said:

“The past few weeks have been incredibly testing for people and businesses in South Yorkshire. We have gone through three changes in COVID restrictions in four weeks and are now in a national lockdown. Many people will be feeling frustrated and weary as we once again ask everyone to make sacrifices to slow the spread of the virus.

“But these measures are necessary, and they can be effective. Infection rates are still far too high, at around 500 cases per 100,000 people across South Yorkshire. But they appear to have stabilised for now – and that would not have happened without people following the advice and limiting contact with others.

“We still have a long way to go to get the virus under control, save more lives and prevent our NHS from being overwhelmed. Everyone has a critical role to play in that: any lockdown is only as effective as we make it. That’s why I am urging all residents to follow the restrictions, not just for their own sake, but to protect family, friends and community.

“I will be pressing the government at every turn to ensure we use the time we are buying at such a high cost wisely, and that they fix the problems which have led us to this position – especially on test and trace.

“I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement today, and I’m pleased to see the Government have finally taken action to support our businesses and have extended the Furlough scheme until March 2021 as well as extending the Self-employed grant until January 2021. This will bring some much-needed certainty for businesses and employees.

“But I urge the Government to now commit to providing the longer-term investment we need not just to recover from this pandemic, but to level up our region and the wider North. The forthcoming Spending Review is the government’s chance to gives us the tools we need to build a stronger, greener, fairer South Yorkshire.

“The coming weeks will be a difficult test. We will only pass it with the help of all of our residents.”