Coronavirus news: Pubs and gyms set to close as Johnson prepares to announce new local lockdown measures amid growing northern revolt
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Boris Johnson is set to announce the closure of pubs and gyms when he unveils a new three-tier system for local coronavirus restrictions in England on Monday.
The new system, which has sparked anger from leaders and councils in the north of England, is also expected to lead to millions being banned from mixing indoors and outdoors.
However it remains unclear which parts of England will be placed under the most severe restrictions. Liverpool City Region confirmed that the government had decided on the closures of pubs, gyms, betting shops and casinos in the area but called for more funding to support those affected.
Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, had earlier rejected calls for more financial support for areas hit by local restrictions, arguing that "the national debt is rising" and the government "can't do everything" to protect all jobs.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has also commented this morning on reports that local councils will be given greater powers over the running of the Test and Trace system.
You can find his comments below:
Labour will push for vote on more support for local lockdown areas, Nandy says
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has confirmed that the party will be looking at mechanisms to allow a vote on new coronavirus restrictions in the north of England
Ms Nandy said Boris Johnson needed to come to the House of Commons on Monday and make a statement about the plans.
“What we really want, though, is for the government to come forward with a package of financial support that enables people to comply with the health restrictions,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
“People are being told that they're going to have to exist on 67 per cent of their wages despite not having a job to go to, but they're having to pay 100 per cent of their rent and bills.”
She added that Labour would try to force a vote to ensure a better financial support package for areas hit by tighter restrictions.
“The problem with just voting down what the government is proposing, is as Andy Burnham and others recognised at the press conference yesterday, is that we support more restrictions coming in, we've got to get control of the virus, we support a financial package, but the financial package is not sufficient,” the Labour shadow minister said.
“We don't want to get rid of what the chancellor has done. It was right that he said there will be some help, but the help is by no means good enough.”
Earlier today, Labour’s Lisa Nandy also spoke of the anger she had witnessed in the north of England over the government’s implementation of coronavirus restrictions.
You can find her comments below:
UK in precarious position but risk of death in hospitals falling, expert says
The chairman of the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), has said the UK is in a precarious position with rising coronavirus cases but the risk of death for patients in hospitals is failing.
“It appears the risk of death in hospitalised patients is coming down,” Professor Peter Horby, from the University of Oxford, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
“It was pretty high at about 25 per cent to 30 per cent in the last wave. It looks like it's coming down to below 20 per cent.”
However, he said hospitals in parts of northern England were already starting to come under pressure from the virus.
“We have a doubling time of about eight to 15 days so it is not long before those ICU [intensive care unit] beds could be full and we could be in a really difficult situation,” Professor Horby said.
“So I am afraid we are going to have to make some very difficult choices and act very quickly.”
Is the UK heading towards a second national lockdown? Not yet, according to housing secretary Robert Jenrick - although he did not completely rule out the measure this morning.
MP refuses to resign after travelling hundreds of miles with coronavirus
The Scottish MP who travelled hundreds of miles on public transport after testing positive for coronavirus has refused to resign, claiming that Covid-19 “makes you do things out of character”.
Margaret Ferrier travelled from Glasgow to Westminster while awaiting a test result and made the return trip when she knew she had the virus last month.
Our reporter, Emily Goddard, has the full story below:
MP refuses to resign after travelling hundreds of miles with coronavirus
Scottish MP journeyed from Glasgow to Westminster while awaiting a Covid-19 test result, and made the return trip knowing she had the virus
Manchester City Council leader warns tighter lockdown will not help stop spread of virus
The leader of Manchester City Council has said he will “absolutely not” be happy to see the tightest lockdown restrictions imposed on his city, warning the measures will not tackle the spread of the virus and will be “disastrous” for the local economy.
Sir Richard Leese said it was not clear what the exit strategy from restrictions would be and criticised data presented to city officials by the government as being not directly related to Manchester.
“It appears to mean that you are stuck with whatever is there for four weeks and at the end of four weeks you can review it, but that's all there is, a review as far as I can understand it,” Sir Richard told Times Radio.
On the data given by the government, he added: “That's got rural Cumbria being lumped with Merseyside and Greater Manchester, that's not appropriate data to be looking at.”
‘Large gulf’ between city officials and government on further restrictions, council leader says
Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese has said there is a “large gulf” between city officials and the government in ongoing discussions about further coronavirus restrictions.
“We seem to have an almost impossible task of penetrating the Westminster bubble,” Sir Richard told Times Radio, adding that the council’s own data showed there was “no evidence closing pubs works”.
He added: “I think we believe with good cause, because of the data and knowledge of what is going on, on the ground we have far more finely grained data than government does and we are in a far, far better position to lead in the containment process.
“And we are still getting things coming from government and meetings that took place on Friday, not just in Greater Manchester across the North, where we are getting proposed solutions with no evidence to suggest why they are needed and no evidence to suggest they would work when all the evidence we have got says they are looking in the wrong place.”
He said his data showed very little evidence of transmission of the virus in pubs and suggested closing them just displaced the problem to gatherings outside and unregulated settings.
Our policy correspondent, Jon Stone, has more details below on Robert Jenrick’s comments this morning that the government cannot provide more support for workers in local lockdown areas:
Government rules out extra support for workers in lockdown areas
Communities secretary says support package enough after northern leaders warn it is ‘insufficient’ and will destroy communities
Sturgeon admits she is ‘not infallible’ after confusion over Covid rules
Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has admitted that she is “not infallible” after confusion over new coronavirus rules for hospitality this week.
The Scottish government has ordered pubs and restaurants to close but said cafes will be allowed to remain open to help prevent social isolation, prompting confusion over the definition of such venues.
Our policy correspondent, Jon Stone, has the full story below:
Sturgeon admits she is 'not infallible' after confusion over cafe Covid rules
Scottish first minister says she has tried not to criticise Boris Johnson because difficult decisions are being made
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