‘Too soon’ to vary lockdown rules by region
A senior Minister has said it is “too soon” to look at adjusting coronavirus restrictions by region after the Government came under pressure to listen to concerns in the North East over easing lockdown restrictions.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma took questions on the issue at Sunday’s Downing Street briefing.
It came after Greater Manchester Mayor and former Labour Minister Andy Burnham wrote a piece in the Observer warning the Government risks damaging“national unity” and raised questions over whether it was too soon for the North of England to see an easing of lockdown restrictions.
In the public questions part of the daily briefing, Mr Sharma
took a question on the regional R rate (infection rate) from Peter, who lives in County Durham.
Peter asked the Secretary of State if the Government acknowledges “a phased lifting of lockdown measures would have been a better option”.
It comes after figures released by Public Health England show the North East and
Yorkshire to have the highest R rate in England, said to be around 0.8.
Mr Sharma responded, claiming the “whole of the UK approach” was the best method atthemoment–butdidn’trule out the possibility of measures varying by region in the future.
He said: “As national monitoring becomes much more precise and on a larger scale, more devolved variations could be looked at.”
He added: “It is too soon for any of that right now and that is why we continue to take a whole of the UK approach.”
NHS England national medical director Stephen Powis said: "There will be variations between different parts of the country, that occurs naturally in epidemics.”