By South East England set to enter tier 4 from tomorrow morning
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson met with ministers on the Covid Operations Committee last night and this morning to agree the actions necessary to follow the steep rise in cases following the identification of the new variant.
Following the Prime Ministers news conference at 4pm with England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, it has been confirmed that the South East of England will enter tier 4 from tomorrow morning, which is said to be:
“Broadly equivalent to national restrictions throughout November”.
He regrettably went on to state that for residents in tier 4, travel abroad will not be permitted and that:
“Residents in these areas must stay at home, whilst non-essential retail, indoor gyms and personal care services must close”.
“People must work from home if they can but may travel to work if this is not possible”.
It was also announced that people in tier 4 areas should not enter or leave tier 4 areas or stay away from home, whilst individuals can only meet 1 person from another household in an outdoor, public space.
However, unlike the November national lockdown, communal worship will still take place.
Mr Johnson stated that:
“There is no evidence that the new variant causes more serve illness or a higher mortality rate”.
The PM went on to reiterate the fact that there is also no evidence suggesting that the vaccines will be any less effective on the new variant, however, the new strain does show evidence of being 70% more transmittable.
Scientific experts have warned that the new variant, if not kept under control, will increase the R-number of the virus by 0.4 or more, following the most recent rise in the R number figures released this week.
The Prime Minister took pride in stating that:
“The UK has by far the best genomic sequencing ability in the world and are better at identifying new strains than any other country”.
He went on to reassure the nation that scientific experts will do their best to study and gather a deeper understanding of the new variant.
Mr Johnson confirmed that the tier reviews will still be regularly reviewed, with the next review taking place on the 30th of December.
