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UK coronavirus live: Birmingham, Kent, Greater Manchester, Newcastle among regions understood to be in tier 3 measures UK coronavirus live: Birmingham, Kent, Greater Manchester, Newcastle among regions in tier 3 measures
(32 minutes later)
Government website crashes as news of new tier system emerges; weekly infection survey suggests prevalence of coronavirus is declining in EnglandGovernment website crashes as news of new tier system emerges; weekly infection survey suggests prevalence of coronavirus is declining in England
This is from Philip Whitehead, the leader of Wiltshire council, on the news that Wiltshire is in tier 2.
This is from the Conservative MP Steve Baker, deputy chair of the Covid Recovery Group, which represents anti-lockdown Tories.
My colleague Josh Halliday calculates that 98.7% of England is in the top two tiers. Only Cornwall, Isle of Wight and Isles of Scilly are in tier 1. They have a combined population of 713, 573 - 1.3% of England.
Pubs in Liverpool will be able to open for the first time in six weeks next Wednesday after it avoided the strictest coronavirus restrictions. The city, which was the first to enter tier 3 last month, will be in tier 2 when England leaves national lockdown on 2 December.
Liverpool has been hailed – somewhat uncomfortably for local leaders – as a poster child for the government’s coronavirus strategy having reduced its infection rate from 700 cases per 100,000 when it entered tier 3 to around 144 cases on Thursday.
Downing Street’s desperation to avoid any advance leaks of the tiering restrictions led to the shambolic situation of council officials having to frantically use the government’s online postcode checker to find out news, before it crashed under the heavy traffic.
Boris Johnson is in Commons for the Matt Hancock statement. It is Johnson’s first day out of self-isolation.
In the Commons Matt Hancock is now responding to Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary. Ashworth asked what the exit strategy was for areas in the highest tiers. Hancock says he already outlined it; complying with the regulations, and using mass testing.
Matt Hancock has also published a written statement this morning explaining the criteria used to decide which area is going into which tier and giving reasons for all the local decisions taken.
For example, this is what Hancock says about what Liverpool city region is in tier 2.
Interestingly, the ministerial statement on the website at the moment is littered with question marks, suggesting it might be an early draft from before the final decisions were taken. For example, alongside Liverpool it says “High (Tier 2) ?”
In the Commons Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is now making a statement about the tiers.
He pays particular tribute to Liverpool, saying that it is an example of how a city can move from tier 3 to tier 2.
He says areas in tier 3 will be able to use mass testing. And he urges people to take advantage of mass testing, so that they can get their areas out of tier 3.
And here are the tier 3 areas.
North East
Tees Valley Combined Authority
Hartlepool
Middlesbrough
Stockton-on-Tees
Redcar and Cleveland
Darlington
North East Combined Authority:
Sunderland
South Tyneside
Gateshead
Newcastle upon Tyne
North Tyneside
County Durham
Northumberland
North West
Greater Manchester
Lancashire
Blackpool
Blackburn with Darwen
Yorkshire and The Humber
The Humber
West Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
West Midlands
Birmingham and Black Country
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull
East Midlands
Derby and Derbyshire
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
Leicester and Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
South East
Slough (remainder of Berkshire is tier 2: High alert)
Kent and Medway
South West
Bristol
South Gloucestershire
North Somerset
Here are the tier 2 areas.
North West
Cumbria
Liverpool City Region
Warrington and Cheshire
Yorkshire
York
North Yorkshire
West Midlands
Worcestershire
Herefordshire
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin
East Midlands
Rutland
Northamptonshire
East of England
Suffolk
Hertfordshire
Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
Norfolk
Essex, Thurrock and Southend on Sea
Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes
London
all 32 boroughs plus the City of London
South East
East Sussex
West Sussex
Brighton and Hove
Surrey
Reading
Wokingham
Bracknell Forest
Windsor and Maidenhead
West Berkshire
Hampshire (except the Isle of Wight), Portsmouth and Southampton
Buckinghamshire
Oxfordshire
South West
South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip and Sedgemoor
Bath and North East Somerset
Dorset
Bournemouth
Christchurch
Poole
Gloucestershire
Wiltshire and Swindon
Devon
Here are the tier 1 areas.
South East
Isle of Wight
South West
Cornwall
Isles of Scilly
Here is the full government list of showing which areas of England are going into which tiers.Here is the full government list of showing which areas of England are going into which tiers.
In the Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, has strongly condemned the government’s decision to put information about which areas are going into which tiers online before the news was announced to MPs. He was glad the website crashed, he suggest.
He told MPs:
Large parts of England, including Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Kent, Newcastle, Hull and Wolverhampton have seemingly been placed in the top tier of new coronavirus restrictions, amid a bungled government announcement of the rules.
Before the formal statement announcing the tiers was published, the government launched a web page where people could check their tier status by postcode – which promptly crashed.
But some people were able to check the postcode finder before it crashed, and reported that Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Kent, Newcastle, Hull and Wolverhampton were in tier 3, with London and Liverpool in tier 2.
Prompting a likely battle with Conservative MPs over the rules, which come into force once the England-wide lockdown lapses on 2 December, large sections of the country will apparently see very limited households mixing, and pubs and restaurants limited to takeaways.
London and Liverpool are believed to be in tier 2, which has slightly looser restrictions. The tiers will be reviewed every fortnight, with the system scheduled to be in place until the spring.
Under the tiers, non-essential shops in all areas can reopen, as can gyms, hairdressers and other personal care businesses, with the formal instruction to stay at home coming to an end. The “rule of six” will again apply for outdoor gatherings.
In tier 1, the rule of six will be the same both indoors and outdoors, allowing people from across households to see each other indoors. In tiers 2 and 3, such meetings will only be allowed outdoors, and in the top tier, this can only happen in parks or public gardens. In the two higher levels, no household mixing will be permitted inside, beyond the expected relaxation of rules over Christmas.
There has been a decrease in the number of people testing positive for coronavirus for the first time since the end of August, according to the latest NHS test and trace report (pdf).
The figures, published by the Department for Health and Social Care show that 152,660 people tested positive for coronavirus in the week ending 18 November, a decrease of 9% compared to the previous week. Last week the figures showed an increase of 11%.
Test and trace continues to struggle with reaching contacts, with the numbers contacted being broadly the same as the previous week. Some 156,574 people were transferred to the contact tracing system, and of those transferred, 84.9% were reached. But taking into account all contacts identified, only 60.3% were reached.
There was a slight reduction in the proportion of coronavirus tests being positive, with 8.8% of people tested having a positive result, a reduction from the 9.6% reported the previous week.
From Tony Roe, a BBC correspondent covering the east Midlands
The ONS report says coronavirus rates in Scotland are increasing.
Around one person in 115 in Scotland had coronavirus in the week from 15 to 21 November, the ONS says. That equates to 45,700 people. The figures for the week before were one person in 155, or 33,800 people in total.
Here is the government’s postcode checker that journalists are using to find out which areas are in which tier. But it has crashed.
According to Sky News, Leeds, Hull, Wolverhampton and Thanet are also all in tier 3.
The ONS report says Covid rates in Northern Ireland appear to have peaked in the middle of October.
Around one person in 145 in Northern Ireland had coronavirus in the week from 15 to 21 November, the ONS says. That equates to 12,700 people. The figures for the week before were one person in 135, or 13,600 people in total.
According to Sky News, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham have been placed in tier 3 while Liverpool and London are in tier 2.
The ONS report says Covid rates in Wales have been decreasing in recent weeks.
Around one person in 185 in Wales had coronavirus in the week from 15 to 21 November, the ONS says. That equates to 16,400 people. The figures for the week before were one person in 165, or 18,400 people in total.
The full ONS infection survey is now on the ONS website.
Here is some more detail about what it is saying about the prevalence of coronavirus in England.
Around one person in 85 in England had coronavirus in the week from 15 to 21 November, the ONS estimates. That would equate to 633,000 people. The previous week the figure was one person in 80, or 664,700 people in total.
Positivity rates are rising most in the East Midlands, the ONS says. It says:
Rates are highest amongst secondary school-age children and young adults, the ONS says. It says: