Rishi Sunak confirms end of England Covid lockdown on 2 December
Rishi Sunak has confirmed England’s national Covid lockdown will end on 2 December and that the country will instead move into regionalised restrictions.
The chancellor said this morning that Boris Johnson will make an announcement tomorrow setting out the details of the post-lockdown Covid plan.
A statement from Downing Street this morning said that the country will return to a three-tiered system, but that it will be stricter than previous iterations.
The statement said the three-tier system would be “strengthened” to “safeguard the gains made during the period of national restrictions”.
The Mail on Sunday reports that the 10pm hospitality curfew will be axed as a part of the new regime.
Speaking to the BBC, Sunak said: “We will be going into a more localised approach, a tiered system, which I think is enormously welcomed.
“We learn more as we go though this crisis and as we get more data, more information, we learn what works well and what doesn’t.
“A localised response is something that is entirely preferable and it’s something we’ll go back to after [2 December].”
The total number of Covid cases has started to flatten nationally, with deaths and hospitalisations expected to follow.
The seven-day average of daily cases was 21,290 yesterday, after previously hitting a high of 25,000.
Case numbers have continued to rise in London, however there is an expectation by City Hall that this will soon turn around.
Figures released by City Hall showed there was 1,394 people hospitalised in London for Covid on Wednesday, which was up by 282 people from a week earlier.
Parts of the North West and North East continue to be the worst affected regions in England.