The government is advising people to avoid all non-essential travel in and out of North Tyneside due to the spread of the Indian Covid variant.
The borough is one of eight council areas in England that should be avoided “unless it is essential”, according to guidance on the government’s website.
The stricter advice appears to have been published online on Friday without an official announcement being made – and it contradicts comments made by North Tyneside’s public health director on Monday afternoon.
ChronicleLive understands there was no communication between central government and North Tyneside Council before the advice to avoid the borough was published.
In a Q&A session on ChronicleLive’s Facebook page, Wendy Burke said it was “certainly okay to visit the area” as long as people exercised caution and followed public safety measures such as hand washing.
But the advice on gov.uk states that people should try to “avoid travelling in and out of affected areas unless it is essential, for example for work (if you cannot work from home) or education”.
The guidance applies to North Tyneside, Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, and Hounslow – all areas that have seen outbreaks of the fast-spreading strain.
It states: “The new Covid-19 variant spreads more easily from person to person. To help stop the spread, you should take particular caution when meeting anyone outside your household or support bubble.
“In the areas listed, wherever possible, you should try to meet outside rather than inside where possible, keep two metres apart from people that you don’t live with (unless you have formed a support bubble with them), this includes friends and family you don’t live with, [and] avoid travelling in and out of affected areas unless it is essential, for example for work (if you cannot work from home) or education.”
It also advises people in the eight areas to get tested for Covid twice a week, continue to work from home if possible, and get vaccinated when offered the jab.
In Monday afternoon’s Q&A session, Ms Burke seemed unaware of any advice for people to keep out of North Tyneside or avoid leaving the borough.
She said: "It's certainly okay to visit the area and obviously we've got some fantastic things for people to come and see. We don't want to turn people away but my message is the same as the one for residents.
"When you're coming into North Tyneside please exercise some caution, particularly when you're in an indoor setting and think about 'Hands, Face, Space' and they're the things that will keep us safe."
The Manchester Evening News reported that local leaders and local public health directors in Bolton were unaware of the guidance.
Ms Burke said that surge testing in North Tyneside over the weekend has shown a Covid case rate of around 55 per 100,000 people over seven days which is "well over 100 cases in a week".
She added that there were also "around 40 confirmed cases of the Indian variant in the borough".
Currently, Bolton has the highest rolling seven-day infection rate in the country at 450.7 cases per 100,000 residents.
North Tyneside Council and the Department of Heath and Social Care were both contacted for a comment.
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