Tier 4: Jenrick says he can't 'prejudge' possible extra steps

Most areas of England could enter the harshest restrictions – amid fears that a new “Tier Five” is imminent. Boris Johnson met with senior ministers last night to decide where the draconian measures are needed most to curb the spread of the virus – accelerated by the new variant. New Covid cases hit a record daily high of 53,135 yesterday.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce the decisions to the House of Commons this afternoon.

The meeting of the so-called Covid-O committee comes amid claims that two-thirds of England could be forced into the highest tier.

Around 24 million people – 43 percent of the country’s population – are already living under Tier 4.

London and several areas in the South-east and East were ordered into it ahead of Christmas as it became clear how easily the newly identified coronavirus variant spreads.

Areas including Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk were plunged into Tier Four on Boxing Day.

The Government has been investigating the variant, which could be up to 70 percent more transmissible and has now been found in other countries.

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Sir Patrick Vallance, government chief scientific adviser, said the variant accounted for 60 percent of London’s cases by December. There are also growing fears England could be plunged into “Tier Five” restrictions within days in a desperate attempt to stop the spread of the new variant of the virus.

Scientists guiding the Government through the ­pandemic are understood to have advised Mr Johnson to impose tougher measures than those rolled out in November’s lockdown.

One of Number 10’s scientific advisers yesterday warned England must be plunged into a third national shutdown to prevent a “catastrophe” in the New Year.

Professor Andrew Hayward, an epidemiologist at University College London and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), warned the country is entering a “very dangerous new phase of the pandemic”.

Saffron Cordery, NHS Providers deputy chief executive, was asked on BBC Radio Five Live whether a national Tier 4 lockdown should be brought in.

She said: “I think we need to see as much of the country as possible in Tier 4.”

She said some trusts are reporting up to three times the number of Covid patients seen at the peak of the first wave.

Restrictions in Tier 4 are effectively lockdown rules, with people told to stay at home unless they have a reasonable excuse to head out, and non-essential retail must close.

It bans meeting people you don’t live with indoors and allows for meeting a maximum of one other person outside.

Those who gather in large groups face a £200 fixed penalty notice for the first offence, which doubles up to a maximum of £6,400 for repeated breaches.

Tier 2 Cumbria is one area that could find itself in the firing line for Tier 4, with three of the county’s six boroughs seeing their Covid infection rate – the number of new cases per 100,000 people – double in size during the week ending December 22.

Department of Health statistics show Eden, home to around 50,000 people, had a rate of 422.5 during the most recent week for which data is available – up from 200.9 in the previous seven-day spell.

It stood at 41.3 at the start of the month and means the borough, which includes Penrith, recorded more confirmed Covid cases for the size of its population than several councils already placed under Tier 4, including parts of Surrey, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

Allerdale (163.7) and Copeland (64.5) also saw outbreaks double in size over the same time-frame. However, the latter Cumbrian borough still has England’s lowest coronavirus infection rate.

And Barrow-in-Furness – another part of the county – was one of just 27 areas that recorded fewer cases week-on-week.

England’s 288 other boroughs saw their outbreaks stay stable or grow, with 35 authorities seeing infections double over the same duration.

Local health bosses fear the rapid growth in cases across parts of the county, which borders Scotland, is being driven by the same coronavirus variant that spread rapidly across the Home Counties.

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