Liverpool is the latest city to be placed under local lockdown measures. Measures imposed in the north east of England several days ago will be extended to Liverpool, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough.
People are advised against mixing with anyone outside their own household except in public outdoor spaces, from visiting care homes unless in exceptional circumstances, attending sporting events as a spectator and all but essential travel. Schools will remain open.
No changes have been made to any of the other areas under local lockdown, except in Bolton, where more stringent rules have been brought into line with the rest of Greater Manchester.
The nationwide 10pm curfew on the hospitality industry will remain in place, despite calls for it to be reviewed.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said the number of cases in Liverpool had hit 268 per 100,000, (making an approximate total of 1340 cases) prompting ministers to take action.
Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth called for more targeted financial support to be offered to places hit hard financially by lockdown measures, including Liverpool.
“This is a region which is hugely reliant on hospitality and leisure, and we know that these restrictions extract heavy social and economic tolls,” he said.
“Existing inequalities, which themselves have a health impact and allow the virus to thrive, will be exacerbated.”
Mr Ashworth also asked whether backward contract tracing in local lockdown areas was being carried out.
Mr Hancock said “We have backward contact tracing in these areas. One of the reasons that we know, sadly, that the highest area of likelihood of picking up a case of coronavirus outside your own household is in social settings is because of backward contact tracing.”
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