Covid: London to move into tier 3 as infections rise - BBC News

London will move into England’s highest tier of Covid restrictions from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

Parts of Essex and parts of Hertfordshire will also enter tier three at the same time.

A new variant of coronavirus has been identified "which may be associated with the faster spread in the south of England", Mr Hancock told the Commons.

Pubs and restaurants in tier three must close except for takeaway and delivery.

Also under the rules, sports fans cannot attend events in stadiums, and indoor entertainment venues - such as bowling alleys and cinemas - must remain shut.

• London theatres 'devastated' to close again
• What are the rules if my area moves to tier three?
• Postcode check: Find out the rules where you live

The health secretary told MPs that action had to be taken immediately - before the next scheduled review of England's three-tier system on Wednesday - to slow "sharp, exponential rises" in infection, adding that in some areas the virus was doubling around every seven days.

Hospitals across the capital, Essex and Kent were already "under pressure", he warned.

He said there was "currently nothing to suggest" that the new variant was more likely to cause serious disease and advice was that it's "highly unlikely" the mutation would fail to respond to a vaccine.

But he urged vigilance and said "everyone needs to take personal responsibility not to spread this virus".

With Kent, Medway and Slough already under tier three rules, it means large parts of south-east England will soon join much of the Midlands, north-west England and north-east England under the strictest curbs on social contacts.

More than 34 million people will be in tier three when the changes come into effect, 21.5 million in tier two and about 700,000 in tier one.

The latest tier three areas include:

• Greater London
• The south and west of Essex (Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Rochford, Maldon, Braintree and Chelmsford, along with Thurrock and Southend-On-Sea borough councils)
• And the south of Hertfordshire (Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and the Three Rivers local authority)

Mr Hancock is leading a Downing Street news conference alongside Prof Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, and Prof Kevin Fenton, London regional director for Public Health England.

What are tier three (very high) rules?

• You cannot mix indoors, in private gardens or in most outdoor venues, except with your household or bubble
• You can meet in a group of up to six in other outdoor spaces, such as parks, beaches or countryside
• Shops, gyms and personal care services (such as hairdressing) can stay open
• Bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must stay closed, except for delivery and takeaway
• Sports fans cannot attend events in stadiums
• Indoor entertainment venues - such as bowling alleys and cinemas - must stay closed
• People are advised not to travel to and from tier three areas

Read more about the tier three rules

Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said "none of us are surprised" at the action the health secretary is taking, but warned the country was "heading into the Christmas easing with diminishing headroom".

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan described the announcement as "incredibly disappointing" for businesses, but said it was clear the virus was "accelerating in the wrong direction" and urged all Londoners to follow the rules.

Essex County Council leader David Finch said local leaders would lobby the government for support "during this very challenging time".

And Hertfordshire County Council's leader, David Williams, acknowledged the changes would prompt concerns with residents and businesses but said: "We must all stay disciplined and stick to the guidance and rules if we are to improve the situation."

Sectors hit hard by the fresh restrictions expressed anger over the decision.

The director of the Theatres Trust said London's theatres would face "disaster" under the stricter rules, while business owners in the capital said it would "be a ghost town".

Kate Nicholls, of trade body UKHospitality, said the move places an "unfair, illogical and disproportionate burden on hospitality businesses without effectively tackling Covid".

And Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said the move into tier three was "another nail in the coffin for London's pubs, as well as those affected in parts of Hertfordshire and Essex".

There was also disappointment that sporting events in London would no longer be able to welcome fans from Wednesday.

• Where are schools closing early for Christmas?
• How close is light at end of Covid tunnel?

An MP in an earlier briefing from Mr Hancock said they were told that the next review of the tier system would be on 23 December.

Conservative MP Stephen Hammond, one of the London MPs who spoke with Mr Hancock, said some of the figures they had been shown "justified" the decision to move London into the most severe tier.

Mr Hammond denied that London had been treated as a special case by not being put in tier three earlier - saying last time around only small areas of London had seen big rises in cases.

Some areas in and around London have recorded large increases in confirmed coronavirus cases over the past week.

In the week to 12 November, Havering was the only area of London in the top 100 places in England with the highest infection rates, at 85th.

It now has the fifth highest rate, at 506 cases per 100,000, BBC England data unit's Rob England said.

Back in November, London had the third lowest regional rate of about 187 cases per 100,000, while Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the highest at 443 per 100,000.

Now the two regions seem to have swapped places, with Yorkshire enjoying the third lowest rate of about 170 per 100,000.

Despite coronavirus cases continuing to rise, No 10 said the government "has no plans to review the Christmas guidelines" which effectively suspend the tier system of restrictions and allow more households to mix.

In Scotland, people have been told to "cut down" the number of contacts in the week before Christmas if they plan to meet up with relatives.

In Wales, a second health board has suspended non-urgent care amid a continued rise in cases. And a leading doctor in Northern Ireland said its health service is facing a "nightmare" scenario in January.

Elsewhere, Covid vaccinations have started being given to patients at GP surgeries in England as part of the next stage of the rollout of the vaccine programme.

Overall on Sunday, confirmed cases rose by 19% across the UK compared with the previous seven days, with 18,447 reported. A further 144 deaths were also recorded.

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2020-12-14 17:59:00Z
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'New variant' of coronavirus identified in UK, health secretary says - Sky News

A "new variant" of coronavirus has been identified in the UK, which is believed to be causing the faster spread in the South East, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

More than 1,000 cases of the new variant have been found, "predominantly in the south of England", Mr Hancock told the House of Commons this afternoon.

It is spreading faster than the existing strain of coronavirus and is believed to be fuelling the "very sharp, exponential rises" in cases across the South East, he said.

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock says London and parts of the South East will go into Tier 3 from Wednesday due rising COVID levels.

So far it has been found in 60 local authority areas and is thought to be similar to the mutation discovered in other countries in recent months.

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It was first identified in Kent last week during routine surveillance by Public Health England (PHE), with ministers told about it on Friday.

The health secretary said that there is currently no evidence that the new variant will not respond to the COVID-19 vaccines being rolled out across the country.

More from Covid-19

"I must stress at this point there is currently nothing to suggest that this variant is more likely to cause serious disease," he told MPs.

"And the latest clinical advice is that it's highly unlikely this mutation would fail to respond to a vaccine."

Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter, told Sky News he is "very confident that we won't have to refashion our vaccines" because of the new strain.

But he said the fast rate of the new spread could mean this variant becomes the most dominant nationwide.

"The best way to describe it is, imagine a giant oak tree, and then a little branch that breaks off from that tree. Then that branch becomes the main trunk and the main artery of that tree," he explained.

Mr Hancock said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been informed of the new variant and government scientists are studying it at its facility at Porton Down.

The surge in cases in parts of the south saw the health secretary announce that London, some of Hertfordshire and Essex will go into the toughest Tier 3 restrictions at midnight on Wednesday.

A decision on whether the capital and parts of the South East should move up a tier was due on Wednesday, but Mr Hancock said the surge in cases made it necessary to bring the changes forward.

He told the Commons experts don't yet know how far the increases are down to the new variant, but added: "No matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out.

"In some parts of these areas the doubling time is around every seven days."

Analysis: New strain makes another surge more likely in the New Year
By Thomas Moore, science correspondent

The virus that causes COVID-19 has been mutating every couple of weeks. It's so regular that it has allowed scientists to track the spread of the infection around the world.

Almost all of the mutations have no consequence for the disease whatsoever.

But occasionally a mutation does alter the properties of the virus.

Many of the mutations are in the genetic information for the spike protein, which coats the surface of the virus and latches on to the ACE2 receptors of human cells.

The right mutation can cause tighter binding and help the virus invade.

But that doesn't mean it is necessarily a more virulent virus, causing more serious disease. If anything, as viruses with animal origins adapt to life in the human body they gradually cause milder symptoms.

Some scientists have suggested that other coronaviruses that now cause the common cold in humans would once have caused serious illnesses, but they have weakened over millennia.

The bigger concern is whether this new strain is resistant to the vaccine.

The jabs are based on the genetic blueprint that codes for the spike protein. If the virus has mutated, changing that information, then there is a chance that the vaccine will be less effective.

It's not inevitable though and the health secretary has said that it is "highly unlikely" to be the case with this variant. Tests are being carried out at Porton Down to confirm this.

What the strain does do is make another surge in the New Year more likely. Rolling out the vaccine to vulnerable people needs to be done as fast as possible.

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2020-12-14 17:03:45Z
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'New variant' of coronavirus identified - Hancock - BBC News

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A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.

He said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.

He said there was "nothing to suggest" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.

He told MPs in the House of Commons that over the last week, there had been sharp, exponential rises in coronavirus infections across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.

"We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the South of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas.

"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out."

Prof Alan McNally, an expert at the University of Birmingham, said UK testing labs had picked up on this new variant in the last few weeks.

He told the BBC: "Let's not be hysterical. It doesn't mean it's more transmissible or more infectious or dangerous.

"It is something to keep an eye on.

"Huge efforts are ongoing at characterising the variant and understanding its emergence. It is important to keep a calm and rational perspective on the strain as this is normal virus evolution and we expect new variants to come and go and emerge over time."

There is a simple rule for understanding all "new strain" or "new variants": Ask whether the behaviour of the virus has changed.

This is crucial as viruses mutate all the time, it's just what they do. And so far we've been given the "scare" but not the "answer".

Matt Hancock said the new variant of coronavirus "may be associated" with the faster spread in the South East of England.

This is not the same as saying it "is causing" the rise and Mr Hancock did not say this virus has evolved to spread from person-to-person more readily.

New strains can become more common for reasons that have nothing to do with the virus.

One explanation for the emergence of the "Spanish strain" over the summer was tourism.

So at the moment there are scary headlines everywhere, but still no scientific detail to know how significant this is.

Prof Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at Nottingham University, said: "The genetic information in many viruses can change very rapidly and sometimes these changes can benefit the virus - by allowing it to transmit more efficiently or to escape from vaccines or treatments - but many changes have no effect at all.

"Even though a new genetic variant of the virus has emerged and is spreading in many parts of the UK and across the world, this can happen purely by chance.

"Therefore, it is important that we study any genetic changes as they occur, to work out if they are affecting how the virus behaves, and until we have done that important work it is premature to make any claims about the potential impacts of virus mutation."

• A TRANSGENDER STORY: Follow Lily on her journey through gender reassignment surgery
• CAN YOU TRAIN YOUR METABOLISM TO WORK FASTER?: Find out the truth...

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2020-12-14 16:42:00Z
52781245127092

'New variant' of coronavirus identified - Hancock - BBC News

Getty Images

A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.

He said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.

He said there was "nothing to suggest" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.

He told MPs in the House of Commons that over the last week, there had been sharp, exponential rises in coronavirus infections across London, Kent, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire.

"We've currently identified over 1,000 cases with this variant predominantly in the South of England although cases have been identified in nearly 60 different local authority areas.

"We do not know the extent to which this is because of the new variant but no matter its cause we have to take swift and decisive action which unfortunately is absolutely essential to control this deadly disease while the vaccine is rolled out."

Prof Alan McNally, an expert at the University of Birmingham, said UK testing labs had picked up on this new variant in the last few weeks.

"Huge efforts are ongoing at characterising the variant and understanding its emergence. It is important to keep a calm and rational perspective on the strain as this is normal virus evolution and we expect new variants to come and go and emerge over time."

There is a simple rule for understanding all "new strain" or "new variants": Ask whether the behaviour of the virus has changed.

This is crucial as viruses mutate all the time, it's just what they do. And so far we've been given the "scare" but not the "answer".

Matt Hancock said the new variant of coronavirus "may be associated" with the faster spread in the South East of England.

This is not the same as saying it "is causing" the rise and Mr Hancock did not say this virus has evolved to spread from person-to-person more readily.

New strains can become more common for reasons that have nothing to do with the virus.

One explanation for the emergence of the "Spanish strain" over the summer was tourism.

So at the moment there are scary headlines everywhere, but still no scientific detail to know how significant this is.

Prof Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology at Nottingham University, said: "The genetic information in many viruses can change very rapidly and sometimes these changes can benefit the virus - by allowing it to transmit more efficiently or to escape from vaccines or treatments - but many changes have no effect at all.

"Even though a new genetic variant of the virus has emerged and is spreading in many parts of the UK and across the world, this can happen purely by chance.

"Therefore, it is important that we study any genetic changes as they occur, to work out if they are affecting how the virus behaves, and until we have done that important work it is premature to make any claims about the potential impacts of virus mutation."

• A TRANSGENDER STORY: Follow Lily on her journey through gender reassignment surgery
• CAN YOU TRAIN YOUR METABOLISM TO WORK FASTER?: Find out the truth...

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2020-12-14 16:21:00Z
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Covid: London to move into tier 3 as infections rise - BBC News

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London will move into England’s highest tier of Covid restrictions from 00:01 GMT on Wednesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

Parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will also enter tier three at the same time.

A new variant of coronavirus has been identified "which may be associated with the faster spread in the south of England", Mr Hancock told the Commons.

He said action had to be taken immediately to slow surging rates of infection.

Tier three restrictions mean that pubs and restaurants must close except for takeaway and delivery services.

• London mayor calls for schools to close early
• What are the rules if my area moves to tier three?
• Postcode check: Find out the rules where you live

With Kent, Medway and Slough already under tier three rules, it means large parts of south-east England will soon join much of the Midlands, North West and North East England under the strictest curbs on social contacts.

The changes will affect:

• Greater London
• The south and west of Essex (Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Rochford, Maldon, Braintree and Chelmsford, along with Thurrock and Southend-On-Sea borough councils)
• And the south of Hertfordshire (Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and the Three Rivers local authority)

Mr Hancock said a sharp rise in cases meant he was unable to wait until the next scheduled review of England's three-tier system on Wednesday.

One MP said they were told in an earlier briefing from Mr Hancock that cases were doubling every seven days in the capital and that the next review of the tier system would be on 23 December.

Mr Hancock will lead a Downing Street news conference later.

It follows warnings from London Mayor Sadiq Khan that tier three restrictions could have a "catastrophic consequence" for hospitality, culture and some retail.

What are tier three (very high) rules?

• You cannot mix indoors, in private gardens or in most outdoor venues, except with your household or bubble
• You can meet in a group of up to six in other outdoor spaces, such as parks, beaches or countryside
• Shops, gyms and personal care services (such as hairdressing) can stay open
• Bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must stay closed, except for delivery and takeaway
• Sports fans cannot attend events in stadiums
• Indoor entertainment venues - such as bowling alleys and cinemas - must stay closed
• People are advised not to travel to and from tier three areas

Read more about the tier three rules

Conservative MP Stephen Hammond, one of the London MPs who spoke with Mr Hancock earlier, said some of the figures they had been shown today "justified" the decision to move London into the most severe tier.

He said that "no-one wanted this to happen" but it was a reflection of the advice the government had received.

Asked about the mood of the phone call, Mr Hammond said the health secretary was "sombre" and was asking people to recognise the importance of the public health message.

He said Mr Hancock was asked by MPs about more community testing for the region, whether the vaccine programme could be rolled out more quickly and about more support for businesses.

Mr Hammond also denied that London had been treated as a special case by not being put in tier three earlier - saying last time around only small areas of London had seen big rises in cases.

Some areas in and around London have recorded large increases in confirmed coronavirus cases over the past week.

In the week to 12 November, Havering was the only area of London in the top 100 places in England with the highest infection rates, at 85th.

It now has the fifth highest rate, at 506 cases per 100,000, BBC England data unit's Rob England said.

Back in November, London had the third lowest regional rate of about 187 cases per 100,000, while Yorkshire and the Humber recorded the highest at 443 per 100,000.

Now the two regions seem to have swapped places, with Yorkshire enjoying the third lowest rate of about 170 per 100,000.

BBC health editor Hugh Pym described the situation as "fast-moving" and that he understood health officials presented data showing a sharp rise in virus cases - risking further rapid increases in the coming days.

Despite coronavirus cases continuing to rise, No 10 said the government "has no plans to review the Christmas guidelines" which effectively suspend the tier system of restrictions and allow more households to mix.

It came as people in Scotland were told to "cut down" the number of contacts in the week before Christmas if they plan to meet up with relatives.

In Wales, a second health board has suspended non-urgent care amid a continued rise in cases. And a leading doctor in Northern Ireland said its health service is facing a "nightmare" scenario in January.

Elsewhere, Covid vaccinations have started being given to patients at GP surgeries in England as part of the next stage of the rollout of the vaccine programme.

Overall on Sunday, confirmed cases rose by 19% across the UK compared with the previous seven days, with 18,447 reported. A further 144 deaths were also recorded.

How will the higher tier restrictions affect you? Are you a business owner? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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2020-12-14 16:10:00Z
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