Home » World News »
Coronavirus news UK – MILLIONS forced into Tier 3 lockdown in Manchester and Nottinghamshire could be next
MILLIONS of Brits have been forced into Tier 3 lockdown tonight in Greater Manchester as Nottinghamshire could be next.
Boris laid out his plans to put Manchester and other areas under tougher restrictions, closing bars and banning household mixing in all settings.
Earlier today Manchester mayor Andy Burnham accused Boris of walking away from multi-million-pound talks for a Manchester lockdown and warned of a "winter of real hardship" for millions without extra help.
Manchester will be now be forced into a Tier 3 lockdown after talks between the PM and the Mayor collapsed this afternoon over just £5million – with both sides blaming the other.
Speaking at the Commons earlier today Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that more restrictions may be added in Nottinghamshire.
The news comes as there were 241 new coronavirus deaths in the UK today – a massive surge, up 161 compared with yesterday.
Follow our coronavirus blog for the latest news and updates…
- Niamh Cavanagh
UK GOVERNMENT COULD TAKE CONTROL OF TRANSPORT FOR LONDON UNLESS DEAL REACHED SAYS FINANCIAL TIMES
The UK government has threatened to seize control of Transport for London (TfL) if mayor Sadiq Khan fails to reach a deal proposed by ministers, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps had written a letter to Khan earlier this month listing several conditions in return for any financial rescue package, the newspaper reported.
According to the report, Shapps proposed a six-month funding deal to March 2021 dubbed “the H2 deal” ahead of a longer-term settlement.
TfL's income was down by 90% because people avoided public transportation at the height of the novel coronavirus pandemic between March and July.
It was bailed out by the central government when its finances came under pressure in the crisis.
- Niamh Cavanagh
CALIFORNIA SET STRICT GUIDELINES FOR REOPENING OF LARGE THEME PARKS
Officials in California, home to Walt Disney Co's Disneyland, said on Tuesday that large theme parks cannot reopen until a county's COVID-19 risk level drops to the lowest tier of “minimal” spread.
Disneyland unions earlier had asked the state to let the resort, located in Anaheim, in Orange County, open when the county reached “moderate” spread.
- Niamh Cavanagh
GREATER MANCHESTER TIER 3 'HUGE BLOW' FOR HOSPITALITY, SAYS TRADE BODY
Greater Manchester being subjected to harsher coronavirus restrictions has been labelled a “huge blow” by hospitality bosses.
Reacting to the news, UKHospitality boss Kate Nicholls said: “This is another huge blow for our sector and a very bitter disappointment for hospitality businesses in Manchester.
“These businesses are either operating under extreme restrictions or closed altogether and this will only increase the pressure.
“We need a practical and workable package of support for the whole of Manchester's hospitality sector in order to keep these businesses afloat and jobs alive. Jobs, once lost, are not always easily revived and businesses closed not easily reopened.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
HEALTH MINISTER CALLED MANCHESTER SUPPORT 'EXTREMELY GENEROUS'
Health minister Lord Bethell called the financial support offered to Manchester “extremely generous”.
Responding to Labour's Baroness Thornton, following a statement in the Lords on Covid-19, Lord Bethell said: “I cannot hide the fact that the increase in prevalence in Manchester is a source of enormous sadness.
“But can I reassure her that the extra measures that have been taken in Manchester have been accompanied by the offer of extremely generous financial measures.
“Financial measures that have been accepted by Lancashire, financial measures that have been accepted by Blackpool, but not, it seems, so far, by Manchester.
“We hope very much indeed that Manchester will remain at the table – the negotiations being undertaken by the Government are generous and I hope open-hearted.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
HUNGARIAN JUSTICE MINISTER TESTS POSITIVE FOR VIRUS
Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga announced on Tuesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and has mild respiratory symptoms.
“As of today, I am in quarantine at home with my family, I work from home and will not attend the government meeting,” Varga said on her official Facebook page.
- Niamh Cavanagh
MORE RESTRICTIONS MAY BE NEEDED SAYS HANCOCK
Matt Hancock added that more restrictions may be needed in Nottinghamshire.
Responding to Tory Tom Randall (Gedling), who raised concerns about rising rates in the county, Mr Hancock replied: “The number of cases in Nottingham and increasingly across Nottinghamshire are worrying.
“Nottinghamshire went into level two last week and talks are ongoing about what more might be needed. And I praise the people of Nottinghamshire for what they're doing to try to slow the spread of this virus.
“It may be that more needs to be done, we will be driven entirely by the data and working closely with the local authorities.”
Tory Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) asked if 60-minute coronavirus tests being offered at Heathrow Airport could be used to allow care home visits by relatives.
Mr Hancock replied: “The answer is yes, we absolutely want to use this sort of testing as it becomes more widely available to do exactly the sort of thing that (Dame Cheryl) says.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
FRANCE AGAIN SEES MORE THAN 20,000 CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS IN A DAY
France again reported more than 20,000 new confirmed coronavirus infections in a day, a total of 20,468, after the daily tally dipped to 13,243 on Monday.
Last week, France saw five days with more than 20,000 new cases per day and two days with more than 30,000. The total now stands at 930,745 and looks set to jump above the 1 million mark before the end of this week if the trend continues.
The health ministry also reported 262 new deaths, including a multi-day batch of 100 from retirement homes, pushing the cumulative death toll to 33,885.
The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 rose by 797 to 12,458, the biggest single-day increase since early April. The number of people in intensive care rose by 78 to 2,177.
- Niamh Cavanagh
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS IN GREATER MANCHESTER ARE HIGHER NOW THAN END OF MARCH SAYS HANCOCK
Matt Hancock added that daily hospital admissions in Greater Manchester are higher now than they were at the end of March.
He said: “So we must act where the virus is spreading. In the parts of the country where it is spreading the fastest it is our sombre duty to take action necessary to protect people's lives and protect the NHS.”
Mr Hancock added: “It has been clear for some days now that further action is needed across parts of England.”
He continued: “In Greater Manchester there have been more coronavirus infections already in October than in July, August and September combined.
“The average daily hospital admissions in Greater Manchester are now higher than they were on March 26 and there are now more Covid-19 patients in Greater Manchester hospitals than in the whole of the South West and the South East combined.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
U.S CDC REPORTS 219,499 DEATHS FROM VIRUS
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported 8,188,585 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 60,061 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 513 to 219,499.
The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on Oct. 19 versus its previous report a day earlier.
- Niamh Cavanagh
VIRUS 'REMAINS PERILOUS THREAT' SAYS HEALTH SECRETARY
Matt Hancock said the virus “remains a perilous threat”.
Making a statement in the Commons, the Health Secretary told MPs: “Yesterday Europe recorded its seven millionth coronavirus case.
“Deaths in Germany and Italy have doubled in seven days, and here, today's ONS statistics show that weekly deaths linked to coronavirus have risen to their highest level since the start of July.
“Cases among the over-60s continue to rise and as deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam made clear earlier, it is the penetration of coronavirus into older age groups which gives the NHS the greatest cause for concern.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
GOVERNMENT LOOKING AT HOW IT MAY REVIEW CARE HOME VISITING RESTRICTIONS – PM
The Government is looking at how it may review restrictions to allow people to visit their elderly relatives in care homes, the Prime Minister said.
Boris Johnson told a Downing Street press conference the situation is “absolutely wretched” for people who have been unable to see their loved ones during the pandemic.
A member of the public – Vicky from Lancashire, who has only seen her grandmother once since March – asked Mr Johnson if there is an opportunity for visiting restrictions to be reviewed.
He responded: “We do have to prevent the spread of the virus in care homes – you remember what happened in the early part of the year, so we have had to take some steps to protect elderly residents from the possibility of infection by visitors.
“But we are certainly looking at what we can do to review the circumstances that might allow people to visit their elderly relatives in extreme circumstances, and on
compassionate grounds, because, you know, I can see how absolutely wretched it is and I think many, many people across the country have now had experience of this problem.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
SPAIN CONSIDERS CURFEWS TO FIGHT NEW VIRUS WAVE
The Spanish government is considering new restrictions, including possible curfews, in hard-hit regions like Madrid to tackle a new wave of coronavirus contagion, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Tuesday.
The country, which has Western Europe's highest case load, is likely to surpass one million infections this week and several regions have toughened their coronavirus restrictions in the past few days.
“We have very tough weeks ahead, winter is coming,” Illa told reporters.
“The second wave is no longer a threat, it is a reality in all of Europe.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
COVID MEASURES MIGHT NEED TO BE TIGHTENED AS DEATHS RISE IN ENGLAND SAYS OFFICIAL
COVID measures in England might need to be tightened and deaths are likely to increase as a second wave of coronavirus infections in England picks up pace, deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said on Tuesday.
“We're running now with the brakes partially on and the 'R' (reproduction) is 1.3 to 1.5 … so we can't take the brake off on this and we may have to push on the pedal a little harder to get it back under control,” Van Tam said at a news conference.
“Do I expect the trend in deaths to continue upwards? Yes. Unfortunately I do.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
CMO SAYS TIER 3 MEASURES ARE MINIMUM NATIONAL STANDARD FOR HARD MEASURES
Asked whether Tier 3 measures would be enough to bring infection rates down, deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam said: “The nationally published Tier 3 measures are the minimum national standard for hard measures but there are other things that local authorities can consider on top and I hope some do.
“What is really important is compliance. Everybody needs to accept that this is not a good place to be if you're in Tier 3, but to get behind it and try and get the rate of disease falling so that R in that area is falling so that the pressure comes off the health service.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
MP IS 'BAFFLED' AS TO WHY MANCHESTER WILL BE MOVED TO TIER 3
MP for Altrincham and Sale Graham Brady told Sky News that the compensation packet “isn't clear” and that he is “baffled” as to why Greater Manchester is being moved into Tier 3.
- Niamh Cavanagh
MP SAYS TIER 3 LOCKDOWN 'WON'T WORK'
Conservative MP Chris Green, who represents Bolton West, wrote on Facebook: “Bolton has been through a far tougher lockdown than Tier 3 and it didn't work.
“The government believes that three weeks of closing pubs and soft play centres will make a dramatic difference. It hasn't and it won't.
“I am disappointed that this lockdown has been imposed and I don't believe the science supports this action.
“I think the health and economic impact will be damaging to our community but we have to do all we can to respect these rules since they have been imposed.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
VIRUS ALREADY 'HEAVILY SUPPRESSED' AND LEFT ALONE WOULD HAVE R RATE BETWEEN 4 AND 5 SAYS DR HOLOHAN
Dr Holohan added that the virus was already “heavily suppressed” and that “left to its own devices” it would have a reproductive rate (R number) of between 4 and 5.
Instead, he said the R number was between 1.2 and 1.4.
“The vast majority of people in fact are behaving and behaving appropriately, but we need to go a little bit further because we need more,” he said.
“Every little measure that we can have, including the use of graduated fines in certain settings, can get us that extra little bit of improvement that we need.
“And we know that many people are complying but some are not and this gives us means and measures that we can take to address that.”
- Niamh Cavanagh
RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED IN MANCHESTER
Johnson unilaterally imposed top tier restrictions – which include the forced closure of pubs which do not serve food and an advisory not to travel in or out of the region – after talks with local leaders about a voluntary move into the tier failed.
- Niamh Cavanagh
DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER SAYS HE EXPECTS UPWARD TREND IN DEATHS TO CLIMB
Deputy chief medical officer for England Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said he expected the upward trend in coronavirus deaths to continue to climb.
His comments came after the Government announced a further 241 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday, the highest daily figure reported since 258 deaths were reported on June 5.
“Part of that surge in deaths is related to the weekly pattern of slightly lower figures at the weekend, and then a kind of catch-up earlier in the week,” he said at a Downing Street press briefing.
“But overall is the trend upwards? Yes.
“Do I expect the trend in deaths to continue upwards? Yes, unfortunately I do.”
- Joseph Gamp
PM: WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR CO-OPERATION
Mr Johnson reminded people to keep playing their part in the fight against the virus.
This includes maintaining hands, face and space, in order to help bring the virus down.
- Joseph Gamp
GOVERNMENT WILL REVIEW CARE HOME RESTRICTIONS
The Prime Minister said the Government is looking to review restrictions in care homes to allow people to visit their families.
In response to a question by a member of the public – Vicky from Lancashire, who has only seen her grandmother once since March –
Boris Johnson told Downing Street: “We do have to prevent the spread of the virus in care homes; you'll remember what happened in the early part of the year, so we have had to take some steps to protect elderly residents from the possibility of infection by visitors.
“But we are certainly looking at what we can do to review the circumstances that might allow people to visit their elderly relatives in extreme circumstances and on compassionate grounds.”
Deputy chief medical officer for England Professor Jonathan Van-Tam added: “This is really extremely distressing, for relatives and for people living in care homes.
“But the unfortunate and horrible truth about this virus is that when it gets into care homes it can inflict really massive mortality very quickly.”
- Joseph Gamp
VAN TAM: WE CAN'T LET THE ELDERLY DIE
Jonathan Van-Tam said: “We can't afford to let our elderly die and our NHS to be completely consumed by looking after Covid, so it can't do its other 'business as usual' work.”
“We will have to take as tough measures as necessary to stop that.”
- Joseph Gamp
JOHNSON DEFENDS REGIONAL LOCKDOWN APPROACH
He said during the press conference: “We don't rule anything out but the difficulty is that the distribution of the virus this time round is very uneven by comparison with March and April.
“And so the right response is, as many other countries are doing, to go to this local and regional approach.”
- Joseph Gamp
PM SAID HE DOES NOT WANT PEOPLE TO THINK ACTIONS ARE IN VAIN
Mr Johnson said: “As we act, I don't want anybody to think that your actions, our actions, are in vain.
“This evening… I can announce that Greater Manchester will move to the very high alert level.
“That means that pubs and bars must close, unless they are serving substantial meals, households can't mix in doors, or in most outdoor settings.
“In some public outdoor spaces groups must be limited to the rule of six.
“And, we strongly advise against travel into and out of the area.”
- Joseph Gamp
DISCUSSIONS WITH ANDY BURNHAM TO CONTINUE
Boris Johnson said: “We wanted a deal that was the best way forward, we have had to take action just because of the urgency of the situation.”
“Other discussions will undoubtedly continue.”
“We don't want to do this in a way that we have had to.”
“I am grateful to them and the leadership of the councils in Greater Manchester for getting behind the measures that were put in place.”
Source: Read Full Article
