Tier we go

PM ANNOUNCES LATEST MEASURES TO CONTROL VIRUS... AND PARTS OF DERBYSHIRE AND NOTTS ARE ‘HIGH RISK’:

BORIS Johnson has announced new lockdown rules for England as coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths continue to rise.

Speaking in the Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister set out a three-tier lockdown system to replace all current local and national lockdown rules.

Mr Johnson claimed the new tiers would “simplify and standardise our local rules” while seeking to suppress Covid-19’s spread.

He said there were now more people in hospital with Covid-19 than when the country first went into lockdown in March. He also warned that deaths were rising.

The Prime Minister told MPs: “The deputy chief medical officer set out the stark reality of the second wave of this virus.

“The number of cases has quadrupled in the last three weeks, there are now more people in hospital with Covid than when we went into lockdown on March 23 and deaths are already rising.”

The Government’s new three-tier system will be set at medium, high and very high.

Mr Johnson said: “The medium alert level will cover most of the country and will consist of the current national measures, this includes the rule of six and the closure of hospitality at 10pm.

“The high alert level reflects the interventions in many local areas at the moment.

“This primarily aims to reduce household to household transmission by preventing all mixing between different households or support bubbles indoors.

“In these areas the rule of six will continue to apply outdoors where it is harder for the virus to spread in public spaces as well as private gardens.”

Areas in Derby and Derbyshire and the tiers that they have been placed in:

TIER 1: MEDIUM

Most areas in England have been placed within this level unless stated otherwise. Derby falls within this tier.

TIER 2: HIGH

In Derbyshire the High Peak wards in this tier include: Tintwistle, Padfield, Dinting, St John’s, Old Glossop, Whitfield, Simmondley, Gamesley, Howard Town, Hadfield South and Hadfield North.

The High Peak has been the hotspot within Derbyshire for weeks now and its rate of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people has risen to 160 as of the week October 2-8.

This is more than double the

national average of 79 and nearly triple the rate the High Peak had two weeks before (55 per 100,000).

It has had a rate of infection of more than 100 cases per 100,000 people for more than a week and has been over the rate which saw Leicester plunged into lockdown in June (135) for several days.

The four key Glossopdale areas defined by Public Health England – based on populations of around 7,500 people – have been among the

highest in Derbyshire, including Derby, for weeks.

These areas of Derbyshire join areas of Cheshire, Great Manchester, Warrington, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the North East, Tees Valley, West Midlands, Leicester and Nottingham.

TIER 3: VERY HIGH

There are no areas of Derbyshire at this level. This tier currently just includes areas of Liverpool.