A change to London’s lockdown status is coming, as the city will enter Tier 2 at the weekend.
When the three-tiered coronavirus alert system was formally introduced on Monday, sending cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham into tougher restrictions, there was surprisingly little information about an update to London’s status. Despite having a lower coronavirus caseload than the other three, London’s rising number of cases means we’ve been earmarked for stricter measures, and the city will now move from Tier 1 (medium alert) to Tier 2 (high alert) on Saturday, according to the BBC.
Whispers of increased measures for London had increased in intensity this morning, with the day ever more likely to bring the move to a higher alert level. Now, London MPs have reportedly been told that from 00:01 on Saturday morning, the city will be bumped up to Tier 2 – which means a ban on households mixing indoors, for starters. Tier 2 measures are intended to be triggered when cases in a given area reach 100 per 100,000 people, and Metro is reporting that the city is currently hovering at around 95 cases per 100,000, with as many as twelve boroughs over the 100 case mark.
The new measures will prevent us from mixing with other households indoors (outdoor gatherings of up to six are permitted under the “rule of six” still), and we wouldn’t be able to mix with other households in pubs and restaurants. The 10pm curfew for the hospitality sector will remain in place, as closures of some pubs, bars, restaurants, and more is not mandated until Tier 3 – a situation, it’s hoped, that London will be able to avoid by moving up a tier this weekend. We’ll also be asked to reduce our journeys on public transport where possible, without being advised to avoid travelling altogether.
Health Minister Matt Hancock is expected to address the House of Commons later and make the news official, but we’ll keep you updated with more on this story as it arrives.