Government advisers have warned that Tier 4 Covid-19 restrictions will probably be rolled out across more of the country, after the rules were imposed on London and parts of the Southeast on Saturday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday “warned the Tier 4 restrictions could be extended nationwide”, after describing that new strain of Covid as “out of control”, the Daily Mail reports.
The paper says the decision to introduce a further tier of lockdown restrictions was spearheaded by Imperial College London’s Professor Neil Ferguson, who led the move into a first lockdown in March before resigning after being caught breaking the rules.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Ferguson today told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “this virus is unpredictable, how people behave is unpredictable, so we will track the epidemic as we always have done. Policy will be formed on the basis of that”.
Asked about the potential for the measures to be in place until spring, he added: “The tiers are reviewed every two weeks and will continue to be reviewed. But I certainly agree it's not looking optimistic right now.”
Whitehall sources told The Telegraph that Tier 4 orders “may stay in place for months, until most over 50s have received the vaccine”, with “ministers believ[ing] at least 20 million people will need to have been vaccinated before any significant relaxing of the measures can be considered”.
The Whitehall figures also told the paper that further areas could be placed into Tier 4, even before Christmas, if “the new variant fuels spikes elsewhere”, adding: “A full national lockdown could not be ruled out.”
So far, the majority of cases have been contained within London and the Southeast. However, as of Sunday, Wales had reported 28 cases and the Southwest 27 cases, suggesting that it is on the move across the country.
-
The IDF's manpower problemThe Explainer Israeli military's shortage of up to 12,000 troops results in call-up for tens of thousands of reservists
-
Quiz of The Week: 16 – 22 AugustQuiz Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
Can Soho House get its edge back?Talking Point The private members' club has lost its exclusive appeal – but a £2 billion buy-out could offer a fresh start
-
RFK Jr. scraps Covid shots for pregnant women, kidsSpeed Read The Health Secretary announced a policy change without informing CDC officials
-
New FDA chiefs limit Covid-19 shots to elderly, sickspeed read The FDA set stricter approval standards for booster shots
-
RFK Jr.: A new plan for sabotaging vaccinesFeature The Health Secretary announced changes to vaccine testing and asks Americans to 'do your own research'
-
Five years on: How Covid changed everythingFeature We seem to have collectively forgotten Covid’s horrors, but they have completely reshaped politics
-
HMPV is spreading in China but there's no need to worryThe Explainer Respiratory illness is common in winter
-
Marty Makary: the medical contrarian who will lead the FDAIn the Spotlight What Johns Hopkins surgeon and commentator Marty Makary will bring to the FDA
-
Long Covid: study shows damage to brain's 'control centre'The Explainer Research could help scientists understand long-term effects of Covid-19 as well as conditions such as MS and dementia
-
FDA OKs new Covid vaccine, available soonSpeed read The CDC recommends the new booster to combat the widely-circulating KP.2 strain
