Tiers to be reviewed by government

Photo: Кристина Павлова - stock.adobe.com

An announcement on tiers is expected to be made on Thursday

England’s three-tier system of Covid-19 restrictions is being reviewed today, Wednesday 16 December, for the first time after the second national lockdown.

Like other regions in the north, the Rochdale borough was placed into tier three, the strictest level of restrictions.

The Prime Minister and other ministers are meeting today to decide how tiers across the country should change, and a press conference announcing which areas are moving up or down is expected to be made tomorrow (Thursday 17 December).

Any changes come into effect from Saturday 19 December.

The case for Greater Manchester, which had been living under the toughest measures weeks before the lockdown, to move into Tier 2 is a ‘strong one’ according to mayor Andy Burnham.

Speaking at his weekly press conference last Wednesday Mr Burnham said: "We’re looking to the government for an evidence-based, balanced, wide consideration taking into account that people here have been living under restrictions for a number of months."
 

Read more: Calls for Tier 2 measures in city-region step upPublished: 11 December 2020

Almost the entire country is currently in the top two tiers, with the exception of Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly. It was announced earlier this week that London would be moved to Tier 3 from today, along with parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.

The Department of Health and Social Care has said that decisions on tier levels are based on a number of factors:

• case detection rate (in all age groups and, in particular, among the over 60s)
• how quickly case rates are rising or falling
• positivity in the general population
• pressure on the NHS – including current and projected (3 to 4 weeks out) NHS capacity – including admissions, general/acute/ICU bed occupancy, staff absences
• local context and exceptional circumstances such as a local but contained outbreak

If these indicators are not improving, an area may be moved up a tier and if the trajectory improves, the area may move to a lower tier.