Question marks over West’s Covid tiers

GOVERNMENT minister and Cornwall MP George Eustice has said that a low infection rate alone might not be able to guarantee Tier One status in Cornwall ahead of the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Mr Eustice, MP for Camborne and Redruth and Environment Secretary, has said that the Department of Health is using a range of measures to determine what tiers areas will be in after the lockdown and that infection rates alone are not the only measure that is being used. The Prime Minister is due to reveal today which areas of the country will be in which tiers when the lockdown ends on December 2.

Mr Eustice said that health officials will be considering the age of the population, the vulnerability of an area’s population to coronavirus and the capacity of the NHS in the local area, adding that, while Cornwall has had a lower infection rate, it has other unique challenges that mean that Tier One is not necessarily guaranteed.

Potential issues he described include Cornwall’s high number of elderly people compared to other parts of the country, and the lack of nearby hospitals to assist with capacity. He said Cornwall’s proportion of infections to hospitalisations have been greater than elsewhere.

Mr Eustice told BBC Radio Cornwall: “In the context of Cornwall, we have to recognise that, while the prevalence is low and remains low, because we have an older population in the South West, the number of hospitalisations has actually been proportionally higher.”

MPs across Devon, meanwhile, are calling for the county to be placed into the lowest tier.

Devon has a Covid infection rate of 106.6 per 100,000 of population, one of the lowest in the country.

Measured on deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test,

Devon currently has the lowest rate per 100,000 population of anywhere in England.

Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter, said he hoped that the area would be in Tier One, but that the Government must publish the scientific basis for the restrictions in the various tiers, if it wants to regain public trust and compliance with the rules. “It is essential that the Government publishes a clear set of criteria for each Tier and for moving between them,” he said.