Today’s Covid announcement: When will lockdown tiers and restrictions be reviewed?

Matt Hancock will update MPs today after Brexit deal vote

Health secretary Matt Hancock will announce new, tighter Covid restrictions to MPs on Wednesday.

Mr Hancock and Boris Johnson were due to sit down on Tuesday evening for what is being dubbed a “crunch meeting” with a team of medical experts and scientists to discuss what needs to be done in England to combat the fast-spreading and highly infectious new variant of coronavirus which has already caused a significant surge in cases. 

Ministers are under pressure to introduce even harsher curbs in London and other areas in the south after it was reported earlier today that the capital’s hospitals alone have more Covid patients now than they did at the height of the first wave in April. 

Scientists have also encouraged the government to move a swathe of areas, specifically in northern England and the Midlands, from tiers 2 and 3 up to tier 4 so the sharp rise in cases can be levelled off. It was confirmed on Tuesday that the UK had seen over 53,000 cases in a single day, making it the highest number of lab-found cases in a 24-hour period since the pandemic broke out.

The toughest measures needed to help relieve pressure on hospitals and reduce cases could include banning people from leaving their homes for non-essential reasons – matching the restrictions at the outbreak of the pandemic, in March – although they are unlikely to be called tier 5 officially.

Follow live: Coronavirus latest news as new tier restrictions expected to be announced

Hospitals are now reporting they are at full capacity with the Queen’s Hospital in Romford, Essex, admitting it has had to begin treating Covid patients in ambulances outside before admitting them due to rising numbers putting “significant pressure” on staff. 

Following the prime minister’s meeting last night with Mr Hancock and the Covid committee, which decides on the tier level in each area, the health secretary will announce the decisions to MPs in the House of Commons on Wednesday - immediately after the Brexit trade deal is expected to be approved by a huge majority, reports suggest.

A number of northern regions and some parts of the Midlands, like Burnley, Northampton and parts of Lancashire, will almost certainly be  moved from their current tier 3 levels to tier 4. All currently have a higher case rate per 100,000 people than Oxford or Norwich did when they became two of several areas escalated to tier 4 on Boxing Day.

It is not yet clear whether the government will err on the side of caution and promote some regions straight from tier 2 to tier 4, to curb the growing number of daily cases. 

Cumbria’s Eden district, for example, currently in tier 2, has a case rate of 510.8 per 100,000 people which is actually higher than many areas already in the strictest measures (tier 4). 

Medical experts have advised the government that a third national lockdown is the only “sensible” solution moving forwards. 

Speaking to The Independent, Susan Michie, a professor in health psychology at UCL and member of Independent Sage, said: “To have anything less this time around [than the lockdown in March] does not seem sensible.”

Meanwhile, Dr Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser at Public Health England (PHE), told the BBC that the “unprecedented levels of Covid-19 infection across the UK” are of “extreme concern” to medical staff, particularly as “our hospitals are at their most vulnerable”.