WEST Yorkshire council leaders have again urged everyone to play their part in helping to stop the spread of Covid-19.

They were speaking after a meeting today with Government officials.

There was no discussion about moving from the current Tier Two category, but a further meeting is set to take place early next week.

In a statement, the council leaders said: "Today we held a discussion with senior Government officials, along with our chief executives and directors of public health, about the prevalence and spread of Covid-19 in West Yorkshire. There was no discussion about moving to a higher alert level.

“We share the Government’s concerns that rates are rising in our areas and our number-one priority is to take the most effective action possible to tackle the virus, protect people and save lives.

"We repeated our call for more resources to implement effective local health measures to tackle the pandemic in our region, including local test and trace, community engagement and more support for people to self-isolate.

“We need everyone to play their part to beat this virus. It is crucially important that everyone in West Yorkshire follows the current rules and guidance – in particular to follow the instructions on self-isolating to prevent the spread of infection.

“The Government have asked us to meet them again early next week. We see this as an opportunity to set out the effectiveness of local measures, what further resources are needed to support local teams and businesses and to review the latest health data.

“We expect the Government to engage in open, constructive discussions about how to tackle the virus without doing further damage to the economy, jobs and livelihoods.”