Sefton Coronavirus lockdown: ‘We must do all we can to protect families, communities and businesses’

People in Southport and Formby “must do everything we can to curb rising infection rates and protect our families, communities and businesses” says Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram. 

Speaking following today’s Government announcement of increased restrictions across the region, he said: “Since Merseyside was identified last week as an ‘area of concern’, there has been a growing expectation that increased restrictions would be put in place for our region.

“We now know that these new restrictions will come into force from Tuesday next week.

“With Covid-19 cases still increasing rapidly, we must do everything we can to curb rising infection rates and protect our families, communities and businesses. That means that these increased restrictions are now a regrettable but necessary step.”

A number of measures will come into force, including: 

• Residents must not socialise with other people outside of their own households or support bubble in private homes and gardens;
• Hospitality for food and drink will be restricted to table service only; and
• Late night operating hours will be restricted, with leisure and entertainment venues including restaurants, pubs, and cinemas, required to close between 10pm to 5am.

Residents are also advised to adhere to the following guidance to further reduce rates of infection:

• Only to use public transport for essential purposes, such as travelling to school or work
• Avoid attending amateur and semi-professional sporting events as spectators.

We are waiting to receive the regulations outlining the detailed advice, guidance and legislation in full. 

Further information will be shared with residents and businesses as it becomes available from the Government.

Steve Rotheram said: “I know that this will be difficult for us all, but we simply cannot afford to see the progress we have made over the last few months derailed and for our communities and businesses to suffer more than they already have.

“Please be absolutely clear: we are already seeing hospital admissions increase, putting pressure on our NHS and we can’t allow this to reach the crisis levels we saw during national lockdown.

“We must all stop, think and do the right thing, or we will risk seeing infection rates spiral out of control, more tragic and avoidable deaths and a more drastic and damaging lockdown across our region. There is still time for us to stop this from happening.

“Our city region is renowned for being kind, friendly and community-spirited. We now need to stick to those principles, respect these new restrictions and make sure that we look out for one another.”

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