Coronavirus update 20th December 2020

 Last night, the Prime Minister announced new Christmas restrictions and the introduction of Tier 4 for London and the South East, in order to get this new variant of the virus under control, to protect our loved ones and protect our NHS.

  • On Friday, Nervtag Analysis revealed that the new strain of the virus is 70 per cent more transmissible and could increase the R by 0.4. Therefore, the government had to act swiftly in order to prevent it spreading to the rest of the country and overwhelming the NHS. 
     
  • From today, new tougher Tier 4 restrictions have come into place for London and the South East. Under these new restrictions:

    • You must stay at home, apart from limited exemptions set out in law.
       
    • All non-essential retail, indoor gyms and leisure facilities, and personal care services must close.
       
    • You must work from home if you can. 
       
    • You should not enter or leave tier 4 areas, and tier 4 residents must not stay overnight away from home. 
       
    • You can only meet one person from another household in an outdoor public space. 
       
    • Those in tier 4 areas will not be permitted to travel abroad. 
       
    • In England, those living in tier 4 areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at Christmas, unless in a support bubble.
       
  • Due to the potential risk this new variant of the virus poses, it, very unfortunately, impossible to allow the relaxation of Coronavirus rules for five days over Christmas.as had been planned:

    • The Christmas rules for those not in Tier 4, will allow up to three households to meet but only on Christmas Day, not the five days as previously set out. 
       
    • There will be no relaxation on 31 December. It is very important that everyone acts responsibly over the New Year period. 
       
  • Throughout this pandemic, the government has stressed that we must and will be guided by the science - when the science changes, we must change our response. We all being asked to are sacrifice our chance to see loved ones this Christmas, so we have a better chance of protecting their lives so we can see them at future Christmases. Through our collective efforts, we will beat back this virus. We will defeat it and we will reclaim our lives.

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