New Tier 4 restrictions from 20th December

This message I have just received from Brent.

Brent moves into tier four restrictions tomorrow morning 

 

Earlier this evening, the Prime Minister announced that Brent, along with the rest of London and the parts of the South East in tier three, will move into tougher tier 4 restrictions starting from Sunday (Dec 20) morning.  

 

The Prime Minister explained that the new Coronavirus strain appears to be spreading more rapidly in London and the South East than would be expected given the tough tier 3 restrictions already in place. Early analysis suggests that whilst there is no evidence that the new strain causes more severe illness or higher death rates it does appear to be passed on more easily and could increase the R by 0.4 or more, and it may be up to 70 percent more transmissible.  

 

With this in mind, the government has set out their new tier 4 restrictions as follows:

 

•           Residents in tier four areas must stay at home – except where exempt by law

•           All non-essential retail shops, indoor gyms and leisure facilities, beauty and personal care services must close

•           People must work from home if they can, but may travel to work if they can’t i.e. construction and manufacturing sectors

•           People should not enter or leave tier four areas

•           Tier four residents must not stay overnight away from home

•           People can only meet one person from another household in an outdoor public space

•           Communal worship can continue to take place in tier four areas

 

New advice on travel was also issued, which states that:

•           People in all tier are being asked to stay local

•           People in all tiers should carefully consider if they need to travel abroad and should follow the rules in their tier

•           People in tier 4 areas are not permitted to travel abroad apart for limited exceptions for work purposes

 

And finally, major changes have also been made to the ‘Christmas Bubble’ plans, which would have allowed up to three households to mix indoors over five days across the Christmas period. The new rules for the whole of England are now:

 

•           People in tier 4 cannot mix indoors with anyone outside of their own household

•           People in other tiers can mix indoors with up to three households on one day only

•           Support bubbles for people in very vulnerable households are still permitted

 

This is a very fast moving and challenging situation and the latest announcement is likely to be very disappointing news for our residents and local businesses who will have been preparing for Christmas along the lines of the previous advice and restrictions.    

 

I welcome your support with helping us communicate these changes with your constituents. Our key messages to residents will continue to focus on encouraging people to make positive choices that will help stop the spread by following the rules and getting tested regularly so we can identify any undetected cases of COVID 19 in the community and ask people to self-isolate and prevent further spread of this deadly virus.

 

I will keep you informed of any further developments as they arise.

 

Dr Melanie Smith