Name: UK coronavirus: Boris Johnson announces new lockdown in England from Thursday – live news
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UK coronavirus: Boris Johnson announces new lockdown in England from Thursday – live news

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(now), (earlier)ShowJedidajah OtteThis from the BBC’s Nick Robinson:And on this sombre note, I say goodnight and thanks for reading.I’m going to wrap this blog up shortly, here an overview of tonight’s key developments:At the risk of ruining everyone’s evening even further, this from the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon:The announcement of new nationwide coronavirus measures is “confusing” for West Yorkshire residents who had been preparing for Tier 3 restrictions on Monday, the leader of Bradford Council has said.Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said she had been assured there would not be a national lockdown during discussions with the government last week about West Yorkshire entering the very high level of coronavirus measures.Following the announcement of new national measures by the prime minister on Saturday, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority said the area would no longer enter Tier 3 on Monday as planned, the PA reports.Hinchcliffe said:I asked the Secretary of State twice last week whether the country was going into national lockdown and was told firmly no.This latest government announcement, coming only two days after the announcement that Bradford and West Yorkshire was to enter Tier 3 very high restrictions, will understandably therefore be confusing for residents and businesses alike.All the Tier 3 regulations we briefed residents and businesses on on Friday are now irrelevant and we must wait for fresh information from government on Monday.Just a couple of days ago government were impressing upon us, as leaders in West Yorkshire, that the health emergency was very urgent.The new Tier 3 restrictions were therefore due to start Monday. Now we hear it’s going to be national restrictions from Thursday.If it was urgent on Thursday, it’s certainly urgent today and I would therefore make a plea to all residents and businesses to be extra careful from now on, don’t wait until Thursday to exercise extra caution.On Thursday, it was announced the two million residents in Leeds, Bradford, Calderdale, Wakefield and Kirklees would be subject to Tier 3 restrictions from Monday, after local authorities agreed a financial support package from the government worth an additional 59.3 million.Hinchcliffe urged residents to stay at home if they could, wash their hands and wear face coverings indoors ahead of the introduction of new measures next week, adding:The infection rate is extremely high and our hospitals are getting an increasing number of admissions.We are determined to work with our West Yorkshire partners to make sure we get the right support for our area so that we limit the damage these restrictions will cause for businesses and communities.This from education secretary Gavin Williamson:London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has released a statement in response to Downing Street’s press conference tonight:The new trading restrictions for pubs contain another caveat, my colleague Rob Davies reports:Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:Following today’s announcement by the prime minister we are also asking that people do not travel to England, or from England into Scotland unless absolutely essential, just as we are also asking people not to go to Northern Ireland or to Wales.We know that these restrictions are difficult, but public health and preventing the spread of the virus must come first.TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that families are being forced to face a “grim winter” because the Government did not act decisively sooner. She said:The extension of the furlough scheme is long overdue and necessary, but ministers must do more to protect jobs and prevent poverty.Furlough pay must never fall below the national minimum wage.She stressed that a boost to Universal Credit is needed and that the government must not “abandon” the self-employed.Here a few more details on some of the new or extended support measures from the Press Association:Mortgage payment holidays will no longer end today as previously planned, the government announced.Borrowers who have been financially hit by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six-month holiday.Those who have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.The Financial Conduct Authority is to set out more details on Monday.Business grants worth up to £3000 are also to be made available for firms who have to shut in England due to local or national restrictions.There is also £1.1bn that will go to local authorities for one-off payments to help them support businesses.Travel firms have warned of a “complete shutdown” across the industry when England goes back into lockdown next week, the Press Association reports.Travel and overnight stays in the UK and abroad will be restricted when the “stay home” instruction comes into effect nationwide again from Thursday.According to government guidance issued on Saturday night, this includes staying in a second home, if you own one, or staying with anyone you do not live with or are in a support bubble with.Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, said the rules “will mean a complete shutdown for travel businesses which have already been severely damaged by the pandemic”, but added “public health must come first”.The trade body Airlines UK said:Aviation has been devastated by the pandemic, and has essentially never had the opportunity to recover. [Measures] need to include immediate additional economic support for the winter and steps to support recovery, including urgent rollout of a testing regime, business rates relief for airports, and an emergency waiver of Air Passenger Duty that will be essential for enabling and stimulating international travel - absolutely vital for the UK economy - for as long as we are living with this virus.Hundreds of thousands of jobs and our economic recovery are on the line.Unsurprisingly, doctors and representatives from the medical realm have reacted favourably to the PM’s announcements.Dr Rupert Beale, Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute’s Cell Biology of Infection Laboratory said:The decision to enter a second period of national lockdown is a painful one but clearly necessary. I urge everyone to obey the rules: this will ensure we spend the minimum time under these very restrictive and costly measures.The prime minister mentioned the imminent arrival of new rapid tests. How effectively these are deployed, and how well our Test, Trace, Isolate and Support system can work will determine whether we will be able to avoid repeated lockdowns.Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in Global at the University of Southampton, said:There’s over 11000 Covid-19 patients in NHS hospitals, with more than 1000 patients being admitted every day, and increasing numbers of healthcare staff off work with a positive Covid-19 test. That is simply not sustainable. With so much resource dedicated towards infection control, a health service overloaded with severely ill Covid-19 patients cannot also fully accommodate (for example) cancer and stroke patients.Therefore, any intervention that reduces the burdens of Covid-19 is also good for other patients too.These measures should have been announced several weeks ago. However, even at this stage, these newly-announce measures should help to provide some level of control the community transmission.With any significant reduction in cases, the government simply has to use that ‘breathing space’ to fix the Serco-led contact tracing system. Control of this should be passed over to local health protection teams, ensuring that that more contacts of cases are reached, which will help to keep cases at a lower level and minimise the spread of new outbreaks.Prof Jackie Cassell, deputy dean at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, was more reserved, saying:The emphasis on what is needed to protect the NHS work - both Covid and non-Covid - was striking. The South West was mentioned specifically. It has a dispersed population and relatively small numbers of ITU beds, partly because much major elective surgery is done at a distance.The NHS trade-offs are a huge driver for these decisions, with massive waiting lists in the system following the spring first wave and lockdown, as well as the huge mental health toll of lockdown.It was good to see much more emphasis on this now both in the presentation, and the answers to press questions.Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge, said:The numbers right now mean we need to go harder at breaking the transmission. This second lockdown is all about that – us, not the government, hitting it hard. None of us want this at all.But there is no choice if we are to avoid letting thousands and thousands more die, and the health service swamped to an extent that even non-Covid patients are seriously affected.The leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey called the government “an utter shambles”.These were the thoughts of health secretary Matt Hancock on tonight’s announcements:And it seems even Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, hasn’t been given the chance to fully wrap her head around the details of Downing Street’s extended furlough scheme:ofOrder byShowThreadsLoading comments…View more comments

(now), (earlier)ShowJedidajah OtteThis from the BBC’s Nick Robinson:And on this sombre note, I say goodnight and thanks for reading.I’m going to wrap this blog up shortly, here an overview of tonight’s key developments:At the risk of ruining everyone’s evening even further, this from the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon:The announcement of new nationwide coronavirus measures is “confusing” for West Yorkshire residents who had been preparing for Tier 3 restrictions on Monday, the leader of Bradford Council has said.Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said she had been assured there would not be a...

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Jedidajah Otte

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UK coronavirus: Boris Johnson announces new lockdown in England from Thursday – live news

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