One Committee member said she “almost fell off her chair” on hearing this – and suggested the public should be made aware that Covid 19 and its impacts may be felt in the long term.

Prof Wright director of the Bradford Institute for Health Research has played a major role in pushing out public health messages through the Covid-19 crisis.

He was speaking to the Committee during a discussion on health inequalities relating to Covid 19.

A presentation to the online meeting by Sarah Muckle, Director of Public Health in Bradford, pointed out that health inequalities had existed in Bradford for a long time – but that the current pandemic had highlighted the extent of these inequalities.

More Covid deaths in deprived areas highlight Bradford’s health inequalities

Around 40 per cent of all Covid deaths in Bradford had been people living in the most deprived quintile (20 per cent) of the district.

In contrast, just seven per cent were from the least deprived quintile.

Work was underway to ensure people had access to testing, including distributing testing kits to households in hotspot areas.

A testing centre could also be set up in Keighley – members were told.

Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe told members that, as of Tuesday, 538 people in Bradford had died of Coronavirus. This included people who died at home and in care homes, as well as at hospital.

Referring to the health inequalities in Bradford, she said: “We have to make sure our economy works for more people than it does at the moment. There has been structural inequality in this Nation for a very long time, and that needs solving.

“Poverty limits live changes and life experiences, and that is morally wrong.”

Councillor Paul Godwin, (Lab, Keighley West) also works as a doctor at Airedale Hospital. He pointed out that much fewer people in Bradford were dying of Covid than a few months ago. He questioned if Bradford being a hotspot for infections was down to more tests being carried out, rather than a rise in cases.

Prof Wright said by testing more, health experts were able to get a greater understanding of what was happening with the virus.

He said: “Hospital patients are now in single figures, but we are still getting seriously ill people coming into hospital every day.

“We are seeing much greater positivity rates in younger people. Bradford is the youngest city in the UK, so it is not surprising the district has a lot of cases.”

Referring to the fall in deaths he added: “We are nervously waiting to see what happens next. It may be that social distancing is working, it may be that older people are still shielding.

“It may be that we have more herd immunity than we think we do. Maybe the virus is getting less potent? It is mutating all the time.

“There is a sense of hope, but we are still getting very sick patients in hospital.”

Mrs Muckle added: “Younger people are more likely to recover, but that doesn’t mean they won’t pass it on to older family members who don’t recover.”

The committee was told that the stricter lockdown measures imposed in Bradford were not based on the number of positive tests – but in the percentage of tests coming back positive.

In Bradford this figure was relatively high – around six per cent.

In many areas of Yorkshire the figure was around one per cent.

Councillor Julie Humphries (Lab, Idle and Thackley) asked: “When will this be eradicated? I’m interested to know if we will see the back of it at any point, if it will be wiped out all-together.”

Prof Wright said: “I don’t see that happening. I think this is a virus that will stay with us forever.”

Later in the meeting Committee member Susan Crowe, who represents the Bradford District Assembly Health and Wellbeing Forum, questioned whether the public should be made more aware that Covid is something the world needed to live with.

She said: “I don’t know if it’s just my naivete, I thought numbers would go down and flatten out.

“When Prof Wright said there is no end to this I nearly fell of my chair. How will we address this with the public? Is that something that we’ll ever say in public?

“Because that is huge.”