Coronavirus: restrictions expected in northeast England

Almost two million people in the northeast of England are expected to face local restrictions as coronavirus cases rise.

Areas such as Newcastle, Sunderland and County Durham will undergo the new measures.

These are expected to include restrictions on household mixing and that pubs will be ordered to close earlier.

Johnson previously said the government was doing “everything in our power” to prevent another national shutdown.

A full announcement detailing the new measures for the Northeast is expected later Thursday.

Parliamentarians from the area met with Health Minister Nadine Dorries on Wednesday night.

He said he was told by a Labor MP that the measures would include closing pubs at 22:00 BST, not mixing with other homes and public transport only for essential travel.

Newcastle City Council Leader Nick Forbes said the temporary measures were expected to avoid a “total lockdown.”

On Monday, councils in seven areas – Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland – called for new restrictions.

The BBC’s analysis of government figures shows that as of Wednesday, Bolton had the highest rate in England at 204.1 per 100,000 residents for the week through Sept. 13.

Sunderland’s rate was 82.1 per 100,000, South Tyneside was 93.4, Gateshead was 81.7, Newcastle was 64.1, North Tyneside was 46.7, County Durham was 37.4 and Northumberland at 25.7.

In all, there were 1,106 new cases in a seven-day period.

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Welfare said: “We constantly monitor infection rates across the country and keep all measures under review in consultation with local leaders.

“Any changes to local restrictions will be announced in the usual way.”

He said he did not want to block sections of the economy, but that the government “will seek” to require that pubs close early.

On Wednesday, Boris Johnson told a committee of deputies that a second national lockdown would be potentially “disastrous” for the UK.

While some parts of the North West of England have consistently had the highest rates of new infections for some time now, the North East areas have also reported large increases.

In the week of August 30, Sunderland had 24 cases. Two weeks later it was 228.

The increase in South Tyneside was also very large, going from 70 cases in the last week of August to 141 in the week of September 13.

Some parts of the region are seeing rates they haven’t seen since May, when the country was still subject to most of the total lockdown measures.