UK Coronavirus Live: Northeast England Could Face New Lockdown Restrictions As Cases Rise | Politics

Covid Tag Time: Is It ‘Disrespectful’ To Drink A Pint During A Zoom Night Out?

Newcastle Labor leader Nick Forbes criticized one of his rivals Lib Dem for drinking beer during a virtual council meeting that was streamed online.

The Chronicle reports that Gareth Kane was criticized by Labor opponents after they saw him enjoying a drink on screen shortly after telling Northumbria police chiefs that his neighborhood, Ouseburn, had been “crawling” with people celebrating parties in parks and drank in open-air bars during closure.

Forbes was unimpressed, saying the meetings “demand respect and dignity from the participants.”

Looking closely at the latest Covid panel for England, it becomes clear that some areas are highly unlikely to break free from the improved lockdown restrictions today.

Drink Bradford, one of my favorite northern cities (top curry, spectacular Brontë backdrop, beautiful blackened stone). Cases there have now reached 61.1 per 100,000 residents, according to the most recent data for the week ending Sept. 1.

Near Leeds issued a warning to residents yesterday after 44 new cases on Wednesday, giving it a rate of 32.6 per 100,000.

It looks worse in Bolton, where there were 242 infections, which is equivalent to 84.8 per 100,000.

Now, there will be those who will tell you that old cases per 100,000 metrics are too blunt a tool. That was the argument that MP Sir Graham Brady was making this week when he argued that his native Trafford it must be released from the blockade. He said it should be part of a “basket of measures” that is used to determine local measures, including the hospitalization rate.

Others would say that while the rates may seem terrifying, the actual number of cases is still quite low compared to the April peak. However, many health experts warn that all outbreaks start small and that if you don’t take action early, you are heading for disaster.

Grant Shapps, the Secretary of Transportation, drew the short glass this morning and is doing the broadcast round.

Speaking to Sky News, he acknowledged that the different tips for quarantining when arriving from abroad to decentralized nations “creates confusion”:

I realize it creates confusion for people not having a single rule, but we have this decentralized approach across the UK and I can only be responsible for the English part of it. “

Shapps said Greece and Portugal were not added to England’s quarantine list because the figures suggested that cases were declining in those nations.

When asked about former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, seemingly promised a top commercial position in the UK despite a reputation for homophobia and misogyny, Shapps insisted that the job was not yet Abbott’s:

I hate bringing us back to reality, but he hasn’t been appointed at all, and as far as I know, there have been no dates. There are many people with whom I do not agree with their comments, but I do not like to defend people who are not actually playing any role for the British government.

It’s Friday, which in the most Covid-infested areas of England is now reckoning day. It has become tradition for Health Secretary Matt Hancock to wait until the end of the workweek to announce who is in and who is out of the local confinement, ruining plans for his backyard family barbecue or delighting your local brow threader, depending on the situation. News.

The announcement usually arrives around 11 a.m. M., But don’t set your watch. It was getting dark last Friday when the weekly watch report was issued, showing which areas had entered the notorious “watch list” and who was subject to what action. That is because certain areas, in particular Trafford, Greater Manchester’s wealthiest district, were arguing with the government over whether or not they should lift their restrictions.

Hancock listened to Sir Graham Brady, Trafford’s only Conservative MP, who was eager for the lockdown to end, only to have to perform a reverse ferret on Wednesday and reimpose the measures there and on Bolton. Don’t expect any change in restrictions in Greater Manchester today, but some parts of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire it could be released after infections.

It’s a crazy time in much of the Northeast, where infections have increased dramatically. South Tyneside it is now firmly in the government’s “red zone”, with 47.9 cases per 100,000 people registered in the week ending September 1. Middlesbrough it has reached 30.6 per 100,000; Redcar and Cleveland are at 24.9, Gateshead 24.2 and Stockton-on-Tees 20.3 (a 344% increase week over week).

The government quarantines tourists from any country with more than 20 cases per 100,000, so ignoring those spikes on your own territory would be … unusual.

I’m Helen Pidd, the editor of The Guardian in the north of England, and I’ll keep you posted all morning until Andy Sparrow arrives.