HERE WE GO AGAIN... LOCKTOBER
■ PM HOLDS CONFERENCE CALL WITH CABINET MINISTERS AHEAD OF ANNOUNCING CURBS TODAY ■ LOCAL RESTRICTIONS ON PUBS AND RESTAURANTS ■ WARNING UK NOW AT A ‘PRECARIOUS POINT’ ■ MAYORS THREATENING LEGAL ACTION AS RULES MAY CONFINE MILLIONS TO THEIR HOME TOWNS
BORIS JOHNSON was last night facing growing anger after briefing his cabinet ministers on plans to thrust millions of people back into lockdown.
The prime minister will today announce a three-tier system of Local Covid Alert Levels – ‘medium’, ‘ high’ and ‘very high’.
He will first chair an emergency Cobra meeting before addressing MPs. Later, he will hold a televised press conference.
Areas deemed ‘very high’ could see pubs and bars shut – along with beauty salons, gyms and betting shops – for up to six months. People could be confined to their home towns and cities and restrictions placed on eateries. A vast swathe of the north of England is expected to be affected, including Liverpool.
Mr Johnson held his emergency conference call with ministers amid warnings that the pandemic had reached a ‘precarious point’. The UK’s top virus expert said a second nationwide lockdown could be needed. ‘That’s a possibility and we have to do what we can to avoid that at all costs,’ Sir Peter Horby told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
‘I am afraid we are going to have to make some very difficult choices and act very quickly.’
The death toll rose by 65 yesterday, with another 12,872 new infections.
Mayors of cities with the highest rates of infection threatened to sue the
government and claimed the moves would ‘shatter’ local economies. ‘If parliament won’t sort it out, I will consider taking legal action to protect people’s incomes and jobs,’ said the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
‘Are we levelling up here or are we levelling down? Which is it?’
Towns and cities in the PM’s tier one will have to comply with current nationwide restrictions. Those in tier two will also be banned from mixing indoors with other households.
People living in tier three areas will not be allowed to socialise anywhere with other households.
Communities secretary Robert Jenrick refused to say whether they would also be barred from leaving their home towns. ‘I’m not going to answer that,’ he said when questioned on Andrew Marr’s programme. ‘It’s right that the PM informs the House of Commons what our strategy is going to be.’
Mr Jenrick said that the infection rate alone would not determine what tier an area falls into, despite complaints that the north was being treated more severely. ‘There are also other important factors including hospitalisation and whether they are across the whole community or in particular settings,’ he added.
He said local councils will be asked to help with test and trace ‘because they know their communities’.
There were unconfirmed reports last night that Liverpool was in tier three but restaurants would remain open.
Liverpool Metro mayor Steve Rotheram said talks with the government were ‘ongoing’. He added: ‘Contrary to some reports circulating tonight, no agreement has yet been reached.
‘We have been clear that new restrictions must come with the financial support to protect jobs and businesses. A deal isn’t a deal until it is agreed.’
Nottingham now has the highest rate of new infections, with 830 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It is followed by Knowsley on Merseyside with 669. The number in hospital in the north-east jumped from 572 to 914 last week, and from 816 to 1,218 in the north-west.
England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan van Tam said deaths would increase ‘as night follows day’.
He added: ‘We are at a tipping point similar to where we were in March but we can prevent history repeating itself if we act now.’
Mayor of Bolton David Greenhalgh called the plans ‘oppressive’ and warned that the north was ‘being treated differently’. He said: ‘Please, please think again. Don’t throw our local economies to the wall.’