By Ben Kerrigan-
The first official review into coronavirus tier allocations in England was held by the government on Wednesday.
The implications are that more parts of the east and south-east of England will be subject to the toughest coronavirus restrictions from 00:001 GMT on Saturday, health secretary, Matt Hancock has said.
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They include Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and parts of Cambridgeshire, Surrey, East Sussex and Hampshire. Manchester is also to remain in tier 3.
As several more areas join tier three (see our post at 11:51 GMT), a total of 38 million people will be living in tier three of the government’s Covid-19 restrictions from this Saturday – 68% of the population of England. An estimated 30% of the population will be in tier two while 2% will be in tier one.
Almost all the areas currently in tier three will remain unchanged throughout Christmas. The following areas will continue to be in tier three
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Review
The review examined the number of cases across all age groups and cases , especially among the over-60s, the rate by which cases are rising or falling, percentage of those tested in local populations who are found to have Covid and current and projected pressures on the NHS. All changes to tiers are expected to come into force from around midday on Saturday.
A total of 109,167 people are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to December 9, according to the latest Test and Trace figures.
The figure is up 12% on the previous week but is still below the peak weekly total of 168,535 recorded in the seven days to November 11., and has affected schools across the UK.
Plans are in progress about how pupils will return to school at the start of January, a top official at the Department for Education has said.
Susan Acland-Hood, permanent secretary at the Department for Education (DfE), has suggested a written statement on Thursday could announce how children will go back to class after the Christmas holidays.
Speaking to MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Ms Acland-Hood said: “There are conversations going on about exactly how parents and pupils will go back at the beginning of January, but I’m afraid I can’t speak to the committee about that this morning.”
Meg Hillier, chair of PAC, said it was “ludicrous” that on the last day of term for many schools in England that parents and school leaders do not know what is happening in the first week of January.
Over 100 schools participated in a survey, 1.24 per cent of pupils and 1.29 per cent of staff whom tested positive for Covid-19 between November 3 and 19, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The survey also found that 27.6 per cent of the schools had one current infection, 27.6 per cent had between two and five current infections, and 44.8 per cent had no current infections.
Both staff and residents are among the first in the queue on the government roll-out agenda, which was subject to reports of delays on Tuesday.
And these plans could hit further stumbling blocks as care home bosses have revealed signs of resistance when it comes to being at the frontier of this scientific breakthrough.
Public Health Wales (PHW) says the 11,000 extra cases were missed because of “planned maintenance” of some IT systems, the BBC says.
A total of 103,098 people have tested positive in Wales since the Covid crisis began, meaning the 11,000 extra positives – which will be added PHW figures on Thursday – will represent roughly one tenth of the new total
Unchanged
Matt Hancock said the “vast majority” of places in Tier 3 restrictions will not be changed, but added in the Commons: “In Bristol and North Somerset rates have come down from 432 per 100,000 to 121 and falling.
Higher Cases
Matt Hancock said case rates in the south of England are up 46% in the last week while hospital admissions are up by more than a third, adding in the east of England cases are up two thirds and hospital admissions up by nearly half in the last week.
He told the Commons: “It is therefore necessary to apply Tier 3 measures across a much wider area of the east and south east of England, including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, the whole of Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.”
The changes will take effect from 0001 on Saturday.
“Bristol and North Somerset will come out of Tier 3 into Tier 2 on Saturday.
The first official review into coronavirus tier allocations in England was held by the government on Wednesday.
The review looked at the number of cases across all age groups, cases specifically among the over-60s, the rate by which cases are rising or falling, percentage of those tested in local populations who are found to have Covid and current and projected pressures on the NHS.
An announcement on any changes, including any made to Greater Manchester or any individual boroughs, will be made by Health Secretary Matt Hancock today. The time has not yet been confirmed, but sources are telling the MEN that Greater Manchester is set to stay in Tier 3.
Any changes to tiers are expected to come into force from 12.01am on Saturday .
Personal responsibility
Hancock urges people to take “personal responsibility” in keeping pandemic under control.
He told the Commons: “It’s so vital that everyone sticks at it and does the right thing, especially over this Christmas period.
“It’s important to remember that this can be a silent disease. One in three people who have the disease has no symptoms but can still pass it on.
“Everyone, therefore, has a personal responsibility to play their part in keeping this pandemic under control.”
Matt Hancock said the “vast majority” of places in Tier 3 restrictions will not be changed, but added in the Commons: “In Bristol and North Somerset rates have come down from 432 per 100,000 to 121 and falling.
“Bristol and North Somerset will come out of Tier 3 into Tier 2 on Saturday.
Higher Infection Rates
Matt Hancock said case rates in the south of England are up 46% in the last week while hospital admissions are up by more than a third, adding in the east of England cases are up two thirds and hospital admissions up by nearly half in the last week.
He told the Commons: “It is therefore necessary to apply Tier 3 measures across a much wider area of the east and south east of England, including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, the whole of Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.”
The changes will take effect from 0001 on Saturday.
Making a statement in the Commons, Mr Hancock told MPs: “As we enter the coldest months we must be vigilant and keep this virus under control.
“Yesterday 25,161 cases were reported and there are 18,038 people in hospital with coronavirus in the UK. We must keep supressing this virus.
“And this isn’t just a matter for Government or for this House, it is a matter for every single person and these are always the most difficult months for people’s health and for the NHS.
“And especially with the vaccine already here, we must be cautious as we accelerate the vaccine deployment as per The Winter Plan.
“We’ve come so far, we mustn’t blow it now.
“Rates in Herefordshire have also come down to 45 in 100,000 and are falling, and we can therefore bring Herefordshire out of Tier 2 and into Tier 1.”
Asked if she would advise the public to report breaches over the festive period, she told BBC Breakfast:
“Any individual that saw any laws being broken would take that upon themselves.
“If I saw somebody flouting coronavirus regulations and the laws, of course I would look to inform the police about that.
“The public are part of this … we do see the public and the police working together.”
Ms Patel denied that police would lessen their enforcement of coronavirus laws over Christmas.
“Nothing will change in terms of enforcement of coronavirus laws and regulations,” she said.
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