After cases have risen across most of the country, it seems the capital, London, has got to the point where intervention is necessary.
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Tier 2 of Boris’ strange system stops other households meeting, whilst keeping businesses open (essentially). The transition to tier 2 is made when cases become over 100 per 100,000 people in a certain area.
The main idea behind local lockdowns is to keep the virus at bay in one area, whilst keeping the economy going in the rest of the country, if it’s “safe” to do so.
Business Minster Nadhim Zahawi told Sky News in a statement: “This is really difficult, it’s a balance between effectively two harms… the harm the virus is doing and obviously the harm to the economy and also to health of having the national lockdown.
“So the local lockdowns are the best way forward. The decisions are made with a heavy heart, really hard decisions…whether it be in Liverpool with Steve Rotheram (Mayor of the Liverpool City Region) there, and I have to pay tribute to him, the work we did with him over the weekend was pretty remarkable…
“I hope we can do the same with Andy Burnham (Mayor of Greater Manchester) and other parts of the country clearly as well, not just obviously Greater Manchester, but London and elsewhere as well.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock is set to address the country tonight amid the confusion and rising cases. It’s believed he will speak about what we, as a country, are going to do going forwards, and what to expect next.
Khan, the Mayor of London, agrees that the change is necessary, saying: “We also need an immediate increase in testing capacity so that London’s testing rates can increase to the national average, and low-paid workers who are ineligible for benefits must receive the adequate support they need to self-isolate and keep their community safe.
“The Government must also commit to protecting vulnerable Londoners. It is essential that no one should be faced with added financial hardship through redundancy or a loss of earnings, and is able to access benefits or crisis support straight away should they need to.”
The mayor of London also backs the labour leaders ideas of a two week local lockdown, known as a “circuit breaker”, but sceptics say this is not possible, as the economy, jobs, and businesses are on the ropes as it is, and some scientists say that it’s too late for such a lockdown to have any real effect.
