Nearly 10m now living under local virus curbs
‘We must bolster our defences’
NEARLY ten million Britons were living in local lockdowns last night after sweeping restrictions were introduced across the North East – with more areas of the country at risk.
Matt Hancock yesterday announced that almost two million residents in areas such as Newcastle, County Durham and Northumberland would face curbs on going out and socialising.
The move left a total of 9.4million living in ‘local lockdown’ regions across the UK – nearly one in six of the total population.
But that number could go up further today if additional restrictions are imposed in Liverpool and North Yorkshire, where cases have surged in recent days.
Officials in North Yorkshire yesterday declared a major incident as infections have risen four-fold in the last fortnight as a result of what they described as ‘community transmission’.
The North Yorkshire Resilience Forum, which comprises members of the police and local council, said they were particularly concerned about the increasing rates in Harrogate and Selby.
Liverpool has seen its infection rate almost double in a week, up from 56.8 to 106.4 cases per 100,000 – above the critical 100 per 100,000 threshold. The city’s mayor Joe Anderson has told residents to brace themselves for new restrictions and rates are high across Merseyside including in Liverpool itself as well as Knowsley, St Helens and on the Wirral.
There is now growing concern that these restrictions will gradually widen to bring about a nearnational lockdown, despite Boris Johnson’s pledge to do ‘everything in our power’ to avoid one.
Yesterday Mr Hancock told MPs ‘the battle against coronavirus is not over’, adding that there had been a ‘ concerning rise in cases’ nationally. The Health Secretary cited figures from Wednesday showing there had been 3,991 new infections, the highest since early May. Government figures yesterday were slightly lower at 3,395 cases although the fact they have been consistently above 3,000 for several days is concerning Department of Health officials.
Announcing the new restrictions in the North East, Mr Hancock said: ‘The battle against coronavirus is not over. And while we strain every sinew to spring free of its clutches, with winter on the horizon we must prepare, bolster our defences, and come together once again against this common foe.
One of our vital lines of defence has been taking targeted action at a local level.
‘We’ve seen local action work well in some parts of the country, and now we must take further action.’
The restrictions are most severe in Bolton, Greater Manchester where pubs and restaurants can only serve takeaway meals and must close by 10pm.
Residents in all the affected areas are barred from meeting up with other households even outside on the presumption the virus is being spread through socialising.
Other affected areas include Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell in the West Midlands, Glasgow and Lanarkshire in Scotland and Rhondda and Caerphilly in Wales.
And Leeds could be set to join those facing tough measures. New restrictions in West Yorkshire were discussed at a ‘gold command’ meeting chaired by Mr Hancock, reported The Guardian.
But Dr Layla McCay, director at the NHS Confederation, warned that these local lockdowns were not enough to contain the virus.
She said: ‘It appears we are now in a position where the spread of the virus is no longer being adequately controlled, with new cases nearly tripling compared with the end of August.
‘This is especially alarming at a time when winter is almost upon us, and access to testing has become a major problem.’
The restrictions in the North East apply to seven areas including Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Sunderland and County Durham. Residents are banned from socialising with other households, restaurants and pubs must close at 10pm and they can only provide table service – no ordering at the bar.
Nick Forbes, Newcastle City Council leader said he hoped the measures would ‘ head off the potential of any further damaging full lockdown across the region’.
He added: ‘ The evidence we’ve found from local testing is that it’s spreading in three main areas – in pubs, in people’s homes and in grassroots sports.’
The Prime Minister has said a second national lockdown would be ‘disastrous’.