Yahoo Movies Coronavirus: What will three-tier lockdowns look like?
Boris Johnson is to announce a new three-tier lockdown system for England to keep the spread of coronavirus under control.
Different parts of the country will be split up into "medium", "high" or "very high" local coronavirus alert areas under the new system, which the prime minister will outline in parliament and a televised address on Monday.
Mr Johnson held a telephone conference with cabinet colleagues on Sunday to discuss the situation and ongoing negotiations with local leaders in the north of England.
What would a three-tier lockdown look like?
The three alert levels will span from the minimum level of restrictions applicable to all of England to the most stringent measures reserved for the highest level, if cases cannot be contained.
Many details are yet to be confirmed and Mr Johnson is to chair a top-level Cobra committee meeting on Monday "to determine the final interventions", according to Downing Street.
However, leaked documents have previously revealed elements of the plan, while other details have emerged in newspaper reports.
Alert Level 1
Alert Level 1 is the baseless restrictions currently in place across the country, such as the rule of six and a maximum of 15 guests at weddings and civil partnership ceremonies, but 30 for funeral services.
Childcare bubbles are required for children under the age of 15 or vulnerable adults wherever necessary for caring purposes, but no playdates are permitted.
Significant event gatherings and support groups are also limited to 15 attendees, and no mass events are allowed. Organised sports can only take place outdoors.
In terms of business, all sectors that are permitted to open by law can remain open as long as they comply with Covid-secure guidance.
The 10pm curfew on business operating hours remain in place in this alert level, but wherever possible, working from home should be encouraged.
Alert Level 2
Tier-two restrictions are expected to be similar to rules currently in place in Middlesbrough and parts of the North East, where indoor mixing of households is not allowed.
Alert Level 2 would be triggered in specific geographical areas or nationally where a rise in transmission cannot be contained through local measures.
Two households may be allowed to meet in a private garden, as long as the rule of six and social distancing are followed.
Visiting indoors in hospitality, leisure or retail environments would be restricted to one household, unless they are in a support bubble.
The second alert level also restricts visits to care homes to exceptional circumstances only, and people can only travel for essential reasons. The number of people allowed to attend funerals will also be reduced to 15 instead of 30.
Team sports will only be allowed if formally organised by a sports club or similar organisation, and attending any sporting events as a spectator in affected areas will be discouraged.
Alert Level 3
The final level, Alert Level 3, can be triggered in geographical areas or nationally when measures from the previous alert level have failed to contain the spread of the virus, or where there has been a significant rise in transmission.
Many details are yet to be confirmed but it has been reported residents in the areas under the third "very high" tier restrictions will have to avoid all non-essential travel and to not travel between areas.
Pubs, bars, gyms, betting shops and casinos will be ordered to close in tier three areas, according to city leaders in Liverpool, which is expected to be placed under the highest level of restrictions this week.
No organised non-professional sports or other communal hobby groups or activities will be permitted, leaked documents have previousl indicated.
How will businesses survive the new lockdowns?
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a new furlough scheme for businesses that may be forced to close in the coming weeks and months.
The scheme will pay two-thirds of workers’ wages in industries directly affected by local lockdowns — although mayors of cities and regions across the north of England have already said it’s not enough to prevent severe economic hardship and a widening of the north-south divide.
How effective will this new system be?
With policy and regulations around the pandemic fluctuating so quickly, the efficacy of a new system might be thrown into question.
Professor John Preston, a professor of sociology at the University of Essex who has researched preparedness communication in the UK, US, Germany, Japan and New Zealand, said the new alert level system could “impose another layer of information on an already-crowded landscape of emergency levels and warnings” in addition to the national Covid-19 alert system and NHS App-driven alerts.
“Simplicity is welcome, but evidence shows that a bottom-up approach to preparedness and response, as in New Zealand, is most successful,” he said.
“Policy makers [in the UK] have always found it difficult to decentralise policy on emergencies and to give local authorities and citizens responsibility to make their own informed decisions.”
Dr Flaxio Toxvaerd, a researcher in infectious disease control at the University of Cambridge, believes that the new system is the right approach, but could be “difficult to achieve”.
“Controlling the spread of the disease while safeguarding economic and social activity is a fine balancing act so it is right that local conditions should dictate local policy,” he said.
“As a general principle, the targeting of measures to specific groups or geographical areas is preferable to one-size-fits-all measures, because they allow us to minimise the damage that social distancing inevitably imposes on society and the economy.
“Having said that, it is sometimes difficult to achieve. Shielding the elderly and vulnerable, an example of targeting based on the age and health status of people, has proved extraordinarily difficult.
“Geographic targeting may bring large benefits, but also comes with practical challenges and needs to be coordinated with neighbouring regions. If a town closes pubs and entertainment venues and the next town doesn’t, then we may inadvertently help the disease spread from one to another.”
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