Southport, Sefton and the rest of the Liverpool City Region have today been placed into higher Tier 3 ‘Very High’ measures as Covid-19 cases in the UK continue to rise.
The new measures come into force from one minute past midnight tomorrow (Thursday 31 December).
Hospitality settings, such as bars, pubs, cafes, restaurants, and social clubs must now close except for takeaway, delivery and click and collect services under Tier 3.
Accommodation such as hotels, B&Bs, campsites, holiday lets and guest houses must close. Cinemas, indoor play centres, theatres, bingo halls and bowling alleys must also close.
Shops, indoor leisure and personal care remain open. Places of worship remain open,. but people cannot interact with anyone outside their household or bubble.
The Liverpool City Region had been under Tier 2 measures over the past few weeks.
Lancashire (Burnley, Pendle, Blackburn with Darwen, Ribble Valley, Blackpool, Preston, Hyndburn, Chorley, Fylde, Lancaster, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre) has been moved into Tier 4 ‘Stay At Home’ restrictions.
Under Tier 4, hospitality is closed except for takeaway, collection or delivery; non-essential retail must close; everyone must work from home unless they are unable to do so; indoor leisure, accommodation and personal care must close.
The news was revealed by Health & Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock in a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon.
He said it was “a day of mixed emotions” following news this morning that the Oxford-AstaZeneca vaccine has today been approved, with the first of 100million UKM vaccinations due to begin on Monday (4 January).
It will be followed by a news conference by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at 5pm today.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is due to give a statement in Parliament from 3.30pm today about whether the reopening of schools for the Spring Term will be delayed in light of rising cases.
The Midlands, North East, parts of the North West and parts of the South West among those escalated to Tier 4, with almost all remaining areas escalated to Tier 3.
The spread of the new strain of Covid-19 is increasing in the South West, Midlands and parts of the North West.
Between 18 and 24 December the weekly case rate in England rose to 402.6 per 100,000, a 32% increase on the previous week. The NHS reports 14,915 patients have been admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the past week, a 18% increase on the week before.
Evidence shows the new strain of COVID-19 is increasing in the South West, Midlands and parts of the North West. The majority of the cases identified in London, the South East and the East of England are of the new variant. Infection rates have increased faster than expected in these areas where the new strain has been circulating and stronger measures are required to get the virus under control.
All clinically extremely vulnerable individuals will be asked to shield if they live in Tier 4 areas. People will be sent a letter or email with advice and details of support. In the meantime they should follow the shielding advice set out on GOV.UK.
Tier 3 and 4 areas will continue to be prioritised for community testing, with more than 100 local authorities now having signed up to the enhanced testing support programme.
The Health Secretary says the UK has 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstaZeneca vaccine on order, “which combined with the Pfizer vaccine is enough to vaccine every adult in the UK with both doses”.
“Everyone who wants one, can get a vaccine,” he said.
Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Despite our area leading on many of the medical developments in the fight against Covid, we have seen transmission rates rise recently in every part of our city region, leading to a worrying uptick in positive cases. At the same time cases have risen at alarming rates across the rest of the country, threatening to push our NHS to its limits.
“Being placed into Tier 3 today is something that none of us wanted, but I hope that these new measures help to slow down and contain the spread of the virus quickly. We will of course continue to do everything we can here to slow the spread of the virus and save lives and livelihoods.”
Do you have any stories for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com
