'Virus can be beaten if government and local leaders work together', says Leeds council chief executive Tom Riordan

Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan. Pic: Tony Johnson

Coronavirus can be beaten if Ministers use the local knowledge of town hall teams to make sure enough people are tested for the disease in hard-to-reach communities, according to a Yorkshire council chief executive.

Tom Riordan, who returned to his role at Leeds City Council after two months working on the national test and trace scheme, said a partnership between Whitehall and local leaders was vital to containing the virus during the winter.

But he warned that local councils, who have been left with huge holes in their budgets due to the pandemic, would need more funding from Chancellor Rishi Sunak this autumn to stabilise their finances.

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Boris Johnson said yesterday that the signs of a second wave of the pandemic were starting to be seen as he indicated quarantine restrictions could be imposed on European countries beyond Spain.

Mr Riordan said that while in some areas of Yorkshire there were "virtually no infections", in others rates remain stubbornly high.

Among those are Bradford and Kirklees, where large numbers of people are not being traced by the national tracing system which sees people hand over details of their recent contacts if they test positive for Covid-19.

In both areas, where the spread is thought to be due to large numbers of people living in the same households, local officials are going door-to-door to make contact with those who can't be reached by the national test and trace schemes.