Southport and the rest of the Liverpool City Region were today among places which were given extended Covid-19 restrictions.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock made the announcement in the House of Commons today following a recent steady rise in Coronavirus cases across the region.
The Liverpool City Region, (Sefton, Liverpool, Knowsley, St Helens, Wirral), plus Halton, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough will be brought in line with the latest measures announced on Monday for Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Northumberland and Sunderland in the North East.
From midnight on Saturday 3 October, residents in these areas must not meet anyone outside their household or bubble in any indoor setting, including private homes and gardens. These measures will be enforceable by law and subject to fines. It comes as incidence rates in Liverpool, St Helens, Knowsley, Halton and Warrington are above 170 per 100,000.
The latest Covid-19 cases for Sefton which were released yesterday showed that, in the seven days to September 27, Sefton’s rate of Covid-19 infections was 182.0 per 100,000, with 503 new cases, making Sefton the 13th highest in the UK.
This was a rise in the previous week’s figures from 121.9 cases per 100,000, with 337 new cases.
The figures for the Liverpool City region are below. The number on the left are cases per 100,000 followed by number of new cases, in the seven days up to September 27, the latest figures available. This is followed by the previous week’s figures:
The Government also recommends that people do not meet with anyone outside their household or bubble in outdoor public spaces, such as parks and outdoor hospitality.
Alongside these measures, £7 million of funding will be provided to these local authorities to support them with their vital work.
Schools and Covid-secure settings are not affected and remain open. Residents in these areas are also advised to only travel for essential reasons, such as going to work, or school and are encouraged to walk or cycle where possible.
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said: “Our strategy is to suppress the virus, protecting the economy, education and the NHS, until a vaccine can make us safe.
“I understand how much of an imposition these new measures are. I want rules like this to stay in place for as short a time as possible. I am sure we all do.
“The more people follow the rules and reduce their social contact, the quicker we can get Liverpool, and the North East, back on their feet.”
PHE, the JBC and NHS Test and Trace constantly monitor the levels of infection and other data on prevalence of the virus across the country. The government is prepared to take immediate action should the epidemiological evidence show that further measures are required.
Restrictions will only apply for as long as they are necessary to cut transmission of the virus and protect local communities.
As announced previously, childcare bubbles will be able to form in areas of intervention to allow families to share caring responsibilities with another household, as long as they are consistent. This includes formal and informal childcare arrangements.
Changes to the watchlist
North West
- Barrow-in-Furness added as an area of concern
- Cheshire West and Chester added as an area of concern
- Cheshire East added as an area of concern
West Yorkshire
- Wakefield added as an area of concern
South Yorkshire
- Sheffield escalated to an area of enhanced support
- Rotherham added as an area of concern
East Midlands
- Blaby de-escalated to an area of concern
North East
- Hartlepool and Middlesbrough added to areas of intervention
South east
- Spelthorne removed from the watchlist
East England
- Hertsmere removed from the watchlist
- Luton added as an area of concern
Background information
Liverpool City Region includes Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, Wirral.
From midnight on Saturday 3 October, residents in Liverpool City Region, Halton, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough must not meet anyone outside their household or bubble in any setting, except outdoor public spaces, such as parks and outdoor hospitality.
This builds on measures already in place restricting residents from mixing with other households in private homes or gardens in the Liverpool City Region and Warrington. See the full surveillance report which includes this week’s watchlist and what the different categorisations mean.
The 3 definitions for JBC and PHE’s watchlist are:
- areas of concern
- areas of enhanced support
- areas of intervention
For ‘areas of concern’, upper-tier local authorities (UTLAs) will work with partners, supported by regional PHE and NHS Test and Trace resource, to take additional actions to manage outbreaks and reduce community spread of the virus to more normal levels. Actions taken may include additional targeted testing at high risk areas or groups, for example care homes, enhanced communications around the importance of social distancing, hand hygiene and other preventative measures, and more detailed epidemiological work to understand where clusters of the virus are occurring so that appropriate action can be taken.
On top of this, areas deemed for ‘enhanced support’ will be provided with increased national support, capacity and oversight, including additional resources deployed to augment the local teams where this is necessary. Actions taken may include significant additional widespread testing deployed to the UTLAs, national support for local recommendations put in place to manage outbreaks, and detailed engagement with high risk groups and sectors to help increase the effectiveness of testing and tracing in these areas.
In addition, ‘areas of intervention’ are defined where there is divergence from the lockdown measures in place in the rest of England because of the significance of the spread of COVID-19. There are a range of non-pharmaceutical interventions available to local and national leaders, from extensive communications, expanded testing, to restrictions on businesses and gatherings
See the Contain Framework for more information.
For more details, visit Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s speech from earlier today here:
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