Journalist tells James O'Brien 'no-one in our area' knew about Covid guidance changing
25 May 2021, 15:40 | Updated: 25 May 2021, 15:42
Ethan Davies on finding new Covid guidance for 8 UK areas
This is the moment James O'Brien heard from a journalist who realised the Government issued official Covid advice in eight parts of England without making an official announcement.
Guidance changed on the Gov.uk website last week which told people to avoid travelling into and out of eight areas, which include Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley and North Tyneside, amid concern over the Indian Covid variant.
Manchester Evening News journalist Ethan Davies told LBC about how at around 7.30PM on Monday he and a colleague "realised that the whole situation had changed and no-one had known about it in our area".
He added: "So it has been three full days of the guidance being completely different to what was being set out and then also people not being able to follow that guidance because they hadn't been alerted by it."
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Mr Davies later said: "I initially thought maybe I was looking at an old version of the website which hadn't been updated...It was one of those instances I had to refresh it a few times just to make sure what I was reading was correct."
He continued: "I could not believe that no one had picked up on this yet."
LBC's Nick Ferrari confronted work and pensions secretary Thérèse Coffey over the clarity of the Government's Covid guidance, and she insisted the message was "really clear."
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She continued: "We've been in constant contact with councils, local communities, this is about formalising the guidance on the website."
However, West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin has publicly refuted this claim and said Government's decision to "slip out" the advice is "frankly not good enough."
READ MORE: James O'Brien reacts as Covid rules changed in his area without announcement
