Whole of Nottinghamshire to enter Tier 3 from Thursday night
The whole of Nottinghamshire will enter Tier 3 restrictions from midnight on Thursday, as the government scrambles to curb a spike in infections across the county.
Previously Nottingham City, Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe councils had been preparing to enter the highest alert level.
However, the entire county is now understood to be entering Tier 3 from 12.01am on Friday morning, following a sharp hike in new infections.
That means Mansfield, Ashfield, Bassetlaw and Newark and Sherwood will also now be included in the highest level of local lockdown restrictions.
Ministers will review the restrictions after 28 days, with hopes the fresh measures will stem the rate of infection in the Northern region.
Council bosses said the sweeping changes were needed to “achieve a sustained reduction in infection rates” and “help protect our vulnerable residents, the NHS and social care services.”
It comes after a council chief hit out at a delay in announcing details for the county. City council leader David Mellen tweeted earlier: “Nottingham people and businesses deserve clarity in difficult times. This is not good enough for our city.”
Nottingham South MP Lilian Greenwood said a full announcement had been expected on Tuesday but was delayed because ministers wanted to extend restrictions further afield.
Nottingham had the highest number of new coronavirus cases in England earlier this month, but its seven-day rate of infection has since dropped, according to the latest data.
The city had 439.8 infections per 100,000 people in England in the week to the 24 October — down from 643.4 the previous week.
However, the city has scrambled to contain fresh outbreaks, with hospital surgeons cancelling some cancer operations due to “pressure on intensive care units”.
More than 7.9m people in England are currently living under Tier 3 restrictions, after Liverpool, Greater Manchester and large swathes of Yorkshire entered the highest alert level last week.
The tough restrictions mean a ban on household mixing both indoors and outdoors, with pubs and bars forced to shutter unless they serve a “substantial meal”.
Betting shops, adult gaming centres, casinos and soft play centres must also shut under Tier 3 restrictions.
A further 19.6m across England are living under Tier Two measures, meaning a ban on indoor household mixing.
It comes after more than 50 Tory MPs lashed out at the Prime Minister yesterday, warning that Northern constituencies risk being left behind unless there is a clear strategy for leaving local lockdown restrictions.
MPs from parts of England currently under Tier 3 restrictions wrote to Boris Johnson to warn him that his “leveling up” agenda risks being undermined by crippling restrictions in the North.
“The virus has exposed in sharp relief the deep structural and systemic disadvantage faced by our communities and it threatens to continue to increase the disparity between the north and south still further,” the MPs said.
“Northern parts of our country were among the first to be significantly affected by the Covid outbreak, and now many communities have been put back under severe restrictions.”