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New local restrictions are being introduced in North East England, including curfews for bars and pubs and a ban on people mingling with other people outside their home.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock will confirm the measures in a statement to the House of Commons on Thursday morning after government talks with Northeast councils and local MPs.
Newcastle City Council Leader Nick Forbes told Sky News that his council had asked the government for “additional temporary restrictions” after being “very concerned about the exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cases throughout the Northeast. “
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“Our evidence from contact tracing tells us that it is happening generally in three main areas; in bars and pubs, in people’s homes and in grassroots sports,” he said.
“So what we have done is try to get ahead of the curve and ask the government for some additional temporary restrictions so that we can overcome the virus in all those areas.”
Forbes revealed that the restrictions would include:
- table service only in bars and pubs
- All bars, pubs, restaurants and cafes close at 10 pm
- delivery service for takeout only after 10pm
- restrictions on households joining other households outside of social bubbles
- restrictions on some major events
Explaining the reason for the 10 p.m. curfew for bars, pubs and restaurants, Forbes said: “One of the challenges has been for groups of people to gather in our cities and urban centers very late at night and after a few drinks that means social distancing disappears outside the window.
“So we want to make sure it’s not another chance for the virus to keep spreading.”
Mr. Forbes added that Newcastle City Council had requested a waiver on informal childcare arrangements with extended family members.
“I appreciate that these are not easy steps and people have worked so hard to get businesses back on track after the national shutdown; there might be some fear about the impact of these,” he said.
“But we are working with companies and we want to make sure that all of our companies that worked very hard to make sure they are safe against COVID and safe against COVID continue to operate through this with some additional measures just to slow the spread of the virus where we know. that the spread is more frequent. “
The new Northeast lockdown rules are reported to apply to Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland.
According to Sky News data, the two weeks coronavirus The infection rate per 100,000 in the seven local authority areas facing new restrictions are:
- Sunderland: 155.7
- South Tyneside: 155.1
- Gateshead: 139.7
- Newcastle 116.3
- North Tyneside: 85
- Durham County: 70.2
- Northumberland: 47.1
Kevan Jones, a Labor MP from North Durham, criticized the government’s “ridiculous” handling of rising infection rates in northeast England, calling the testing program in the region a “disaster.”
Earlier Thursday morning, Health Minister Edward Argar told Sky News that the North East was seeing an increase in cases similar to the North West of England.
He said: “In the northeast we are seeing an increase in infections. It is exactly what we have seen in the northwest.
“We control that rate. When necessary, we intervene and act.”
Argar said that, in the North West of England, the increase in infections was due to people not adhering to the rules of social distancing with different households meeting closely together.
He added: “Obviously a nighttime economy can drive that when people have been to the pub, people have been out late into the night.
“That’s one of the ways that transmission can increase.”
