Uncertainty over North East tier level as Boris Johnson says 'discussions are ongoing' with North East council leaders

During his speech in the House of Common’s on Monday, October 12 where he confirmed the new three-tier alert system, Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that talks with North East leaders are ongoing.

Presently the North East would fall under the tier two alert level, meaning that the spread of the illness remains ‘high’ and that no households are allowed to mix indoors.

MPs will debate and vote on the measures on Tuesday and the new tiered system will come into effect on Wednesday.

There is still a chance the region could be moved to tier three and the Prime Minister said talks were continuing with local leaders in the North East and about the approach there and the support available.

He told Parliament: “I know how difficult this is – they like us, like everyone in this House, are grappling with very real dilemmas.

“But we cannot let the NHS fall over when lives are at stake.”

This comes after Nick Forbes, the leader of Newcastle Council, tweeted earlier today to say that there will be no further Covid-19 restrictions in the North East “for now”.

However, the PM’s comments in Parliament suggest that the Government could be working towards a tier three local lockdown for the region, meaning that pubs, bars, gyms and leisure centres would have to close.

Under the new three-tier system, a medium alert level (tier one) will cover most of England and will consist of the current national measures, including the 10pm curfew for pubs.

The high alert level (tier two) will aim to prevent mixing between different households and will cover most of the local lockdown restrictions that we have already seen.

Tier three will be very high which will see the closure of businesses and a total ban on households mixing.

Earlier today, it was confirmed that the Government have put the Nightingale Hospital in Washington on standby as hospitalisations relating to coronavirus are higher now than they were in March at the start of lockdown.

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