CITY FACES LOCKDOWN
EAST YORKSHIRE IN HIGH-RISK CATEGORY OF COVID HEAT MAP
HULL is among the highest risk areas of the UK ahead of a new traffic light system expected to be introduced by the government.
Cases are on the rise in the city as Boris Johnson prepares to unveil a three-tier local lockdown code today.
It is expected that the prime minister will announce that local authority areas, categorised as high, medium or low risk, will face varying restrictions.
The Government has released a heat map showing that Hull and the East Riding are listed as “high risk”, meaning an infection rate of more than 50 per 100,000 people.
The tiers are not being decided on set, rigid thresholds of infections per 100,000 people - but the number is likely to be a good guide to which way an area is going.
The latest seven-day infection rates, as of Monday, October 6, shows the infection rate in Hull stands at 98.2. In the East Riding it is 104.6.
The government is expected to also look at the speed of growth, the rate of admissions to hospital and any specific outbreaks (such as factories or universities) when deciding an area’s tier.
Tier 1 will see current social distancing measures, the “rule of six” and a pub curfew of 10pm enforced.
Areas in Tier 2 will have the same restrictions, plus a ban on households mixing.
In Tier 3, people will not be able to mix households and pubs, restaurants and other hospitality businesses will be shut.
The prime minister’s new system plans to tackle high risk areas with rising infections, while allowing lower risk spots to carry on mixing households and going to the pub.
It means millions of people in the north of England now face the prospect of tighter lockdown measures.
The Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has admitted that some of the local measures already introduced had not brought the numbers down like it was hoped.
Mr Jenrick insisted that “the measures do work” and that if they hadn’t have been put in place, the rate of infection would have been even higher than it is now.
Some of the areas have seen a shocking 3,653 per cent rise in infection rates since tough restrictions were brought in.
At least 20 million across the UK are under restrictions. Resentment has been brewing over a clear north-south divide between parts of the country with soaring rates, and others with lower numbers.
The number of new cases of coronavirus recorded in the UK in a single day has doubled in just a week.