THE LEADER of Newport City Council has said she is “hopeful” the city can move out of local lockdown quickly, if people follow the rules.

New restrictions which ban people entering or leaving the city without “a reasonable excuse” were introduced on Tuesday evening following a spike in cases in the city.

At a council overview and scrutiny management committee meeting, Cllr Matthew Evans asked what effect the local lockdown would have on the council’s strategic recovery aims.

Cllr Mudd said it was “too soon to say” - but added that she hopes local lockdown rules can be eased in the near future.

“If people continue to follow the rules, then I would be very hopeful that we would move out of it pretty quickly as well,” she said.

“But it’s very much a fluid situation at the moment and we need to be mindful of that.”

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Chief executive Beverly Owen said the council was keeping a close watch on the impact of the local restrictions on the city’s economy.

“Clearly what we are watching is the economy - that’s where we have got our closest eye at the moment,” said Ms Owen.

The pandemic has resulted in a loss of income of £3.7 million and additional costs of £1.7m for the city council, with some of these costs covered by Welsh Government.

Cllr Mudd said this position could worsen by the end of the year, with ongoing restrictions and local lockdowns.

The local lockdown is due to be reviewed by the Welsh Government two weeks after it came into effect.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said earlier this week that restrictions in Newport will be eased “as soon as it is safe to do so”.

“I think there is a realistic prospect that that outbreak will be brought back under control as rapidly as possible, and then some of the measures we’ve needed to put in place will be able to be removed,” he said.

However, he stressed that this was dependent on the residents of Newport doing their part to ensure the spread of the virus was brought under control.