NEW STRAIN PLUNGES 6M BACK INTO LOCKDOWN
Half the country under toughest curbs as the mutant virus sweeps through South at ‘dangerous’ pace
SIX million more people will be plunged into Tier Four from Boxing Day – placing almost half the country under effective lockdown.
Matt Hancock announced the move at a bleak Downing Street press conference yesterday as he warned that the new fastspreading variant of coronavirus was ripping through the South East at a ‘dangerous rate’ and spreading elsewhere.
As the third wave of the pandemic accelerated, the Health Secretary also revealed mounting alarm over yet another ‘super- strain’ of Covid which has now reached the UK from South Africa.
The extension of Tier Four areas means that, from midnight tomorrow, around 43 per cent of the population – 23 million people – will be living with the most stringent restrictions, which include the order to ‘Stay at Home’. Mr Hancock’s grim announcement came as: Official figures showed another 39,237 have tested positive for the virus – a record for a single day. Deaths rose again to 744 – the highest figure since April;
Sir John Bell, of the Government’s vaccine taskforce, predicted the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab would be approved by regulators shortly after Christmas;
Government adviser Neil Ferguson raised fresh doubts about the next school term, saying the new variant had led to an ‘explosion’ of cases in classrooms;
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon offered a grovelling apology after being caught breaking her own Covid rules by removing her face mask at a wake;
A poll found that Labour had taken a four-point lead in the wake of Boris Johnson’s U-turn over the Christmas rules;
Health officials continued to press ministers to impose a full national lockdown in England in the new year.
Mr Hancock told the press conference that the existing tier restrictions were not enough to control the new mutant strain of the virus, which has seen cases rise by 57 per cent in the past week across the country and hospital admissions at their highest since mid-April.
The biggest rises have been in places neighbouring areas already in Tier Four, he said, adding that East Anglia, for example, had seen a ‘significant number’ of cases caused by the fastspreading variant.
He said: ‘It is therefore necessary to put more of the east and south east of England into Tier Four. We know that Tier Three is not enough to control the new variant. This is not a hypothesis. It is a fact, and we’ve seen it on the ground.’
Mr Hancock said that as of Boxing Day, joining London and parts of the South East people will be told to stay at home across Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and most of Hampshire – along with the parts of Essex and Surrey which are not already in the toughest tier.
Mr Hancock also announced that Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset,
Swindon, the New Forest area of Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Cheshire and Warrington will be moving from Tier Two to Tier Three, increasing the number in the second- strictest band to almost 25 million.
The Isle of Wight jumps two levels into Tier Three. Cornwall and Herefordshire will be raised to Tier Two after the Government said cases there were rising at a worrying rate.
It will leave the 2,000 residents of the Isles of Scilly as the only inhabitants of England still in the lowest Tier One level.
Mr Hancock said: ‘I know how hard 2020 has been for everybody and, after delivering some really difficult news, I want to end on a reflection of where we are as a country. This Christmas, and the start of 2021, is going to be tough.
‘The new variant makes everything a lot harder, because it spreads, so much faster. But we mustn’t give up now, especially after so much sacrifice.
‘We know that we can control this virus. We know we can get through this together, we’re going to get through it by suppressing the virus until a vaccine can make us safe.
‘I know that some of these decisions are tough, but I believe that everybody will do what is needed to keep themselves and others safe, especially this Christmas. I know from the bottom of my heart that there are brighter skies ahead.’
The Health Secretary also revealed that the second mutant strain of the virus which emerged in South Africa was ‘yet more transmissible’ than the previous new variant, which itself is thought to spread 70 per cent faster than normal Covid.
Immediate travel restrictions were placed on South Africa last night. And Mr Hancock said anyone who has arrived in the UK from there in the past fortnight must go into strict quarantine.
As well as swathes of England, all of Wales is already under Alert Level Four – the devolved government’s equivalent of Tier Four –
while the Scottish mainland and Northern Ireland come under the toughest restrictions on Boxing Day. Those in Tier Four are advised to remain at home except for a ‘reasonable excuse’ such as going to work, education, daily exercise, medical appointments and shopping for essentials.
People in these areas also cannot meet other people indoors, unless they live with them or they are part of their support bubble, even on Christmas Day.
Pubs and restaurants will close, along with non- essential shops, gyms and hairdressers – meaning an extra 50,000 business premises in the new Tier Four areas will be forced to shut up shop from Boxing Day.
This is on top of the 170,000 businesses are already closed in Tier Four areas, according to data from real estate adviser Altus Group.
The British Retail Consortium said the Government must announce plans to extend the business rates holiday for retailers and the hospitality sector beyond
April. Chief executive Helen Dickinson said: ‘The time for debating future business rates relief is over, it is now an imperative.
‘ The Government must announce targeted relief beyond April for those retailers who are suffering under the impact of repeated closures, or else be prepared for further shop closures and job losses in the New Year.’
Trade body UKHospitality – which represents pubs, restaurants and hotels – also called for urgent additional financial support. Chief executive Kate Nicholls said: ‘These urgent restrictive actions require equally urgent accompanying financial supports for businesses, many more of which have been flung closer to commercial failure.
‘The incessant hammering of hospitality businesses must be followed up with an equally exaggerated raft of supports to rescue the sector when the virus is under better control, or many jobs and livelihoods will have been sacrificed for little effect.’