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MATT Hancock will plunge millions more into Level 4 today as he warned that “we have to take more action.”
The Health Secretary will tell MPs later today which areas will be put into near-closed closure, with shops, indoor activities, gyms and hair salons closed to stop the spread of Covid.
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Up to two THIRD PARTIES from the country can be placed at Level 4 after Covid cases skyrocketed yesterday, the highest daily increase since mass testing began.
He told Sky News today: “We are facing a very significant challenge on the NHS right now.”
“There has been a significant increase in the number of cases, the highest number of cases recorded yesterday, 53,000 cases.”
“We’re going to have to take more action. I’m going to put that out in the House of Commons later today.”
He is expected to address MPs around 3pm, after the Brexit votes in the Commons.
He added on Radio 4: “The new variant means that suppression of the virus is also much more difficult. That is why we had to introduce Level 4.”
“I will be exposing the additional extensions that we will have to make to Level 4 in the House of Commons later today.”
Already a third of England is in the upper Tier 4, with six million more people moving there since Boxing Day.
Data from the symptom-tracking app ZOE has revealed that areas like Manchester and Leicester could be pushed into a tough Level 4 lockdown as cases continue to rise.
It came as:
- The University of Oxford / AstraZenca vaccine was approved by regulators today, with one million doses a week to be rolled out starting next week.
- And a change in strategy is expected so that people can receive the vaccine earlier, with ministers prioritizing the first prick and giving the second within 12 weeks.
- Yesterday more than 53,000 cases of the virus were reported
- Major Covid Incident Declared in Essex as Hospitals Struggle to Cope with Demand
- It is likely that school students in some years will delay returning to the classroom thanks to the increase in cases
VACCINE REINFORCEMENT
Today, Hancock said enough coronavirus punctures were ordered in the UK to vaccinate “the entire population”.
All areas already on Level 4
A list of the areas at Level 4 currently are:
- Kent
- Buckinghamshire
- Berkshire
- Surrey (excluding Waverley)
- The districts of Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, Rother and Hastings
- The 32 boroughs of London and the City of London.
- Bedford, central Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Luton, Peterborough
- Hertfordshire
- Essex (except Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring).
A complete list of the areas that joined Level 4 on Boxing Day are:
- Sussex
- Oxfordshire
- Norfolk
- Cambridgeshire
- Those parts of Essex that aren’t on Level 4 yet
- Waverley
- Hampshire
SCHOOL EXIT
Also, it is likely that the Year 11 and 13 students will be delayed in their return until Monday 11 January.
Other high school students have already been told that their returns will be staggered so principals have time to install massive testing regimes in classrooms.
Ministers had previously insisted that examination year pupils in England would return to school on January 4.
Those kids are now ready to join all high school years to start the term remotely.
But elementary schools are likely to reopen as planned as part of an engagement plan in the education sector.
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