from wednesday 34 million people in
england will be living with the highest
level of restrictions
in tier three new areas including the
whole of london
are being moved into the top tier
because of a very sharp rise in the
number of coronavirus infections
the measures were announced as ministers
revealed that a new variant of the virus
has been seen in the uk but experts say
they believe
the new vaccine is effective against it
so we have greater london and we have
parts of the counties of essex
and hertfordshire to be placed in tier
three from wednesday
facing the most severe restrictions
there can be no socializing indoors with
anyone
other than the people you live with or
those in your support bubble
bars pubs and restaurants will have to
close though they can provide takeaways
and deliveries but shops gyms and
hairdressers
will be able to stay open our health
editor hugh pim has more details
the run-up to christmas just won't feel
the same across a swathe of south east
england
with new restrictions on meeting members
of other households outdoors
those shops will remain open the move to
tier 3
is a response to a steep rise in virus
cases in london
and parts of essex and hertfordshire and
that's putting more pressure on
hospitals
cases were moving up anyway though the
health secretary told the commons of a
new development
we have identified a new variant of
coronavirus
which may be associated with the faster
spread in the southeast of england
initial analysis suggests that this
variant is growing faster than the
existing variants
we've currently identified over a
thousand cases with this variant
predominantly in the south of england
he said there was nothing to suggest the
new variant made people sicker or that
it was resistant to vaccines labour said
the picture around england was now less
encouraging
but overall the increasing areas are
rising
faster than the decreasing areas are
falling
and as things stand we are heading into
the christmas easing
with diminishing headroom the buffer
zone these tiers were supposed to
provide
is getting much thinner of the top 20
virus hotspots in england all but
two are in the south east for example
the london boroughs of havering enfield
and southwark
with case increases of more than 50
percent in the most recent week
and brentwood and thorac in essex even
more around 80 percent
the rise in cases officials said could
put the nhs under great strains
and this will lead inexorably not only
to
covert deaths directly but it also
leads importantly to displacing other
health activity that means that other
diseases are not being treated if we do
not get on top of this quickly
the health argument for tighter
restrictions has been made on the basis
of sharply rising case numbers but there
is of course an economic
impact tier 3 means bars pubs and
restaurants having to close to customers
apart from takeaways and deliveries and
it should have been their busiest time
of the year
especially in london this restaurant
only reopened recently after the
lockdown
now they'll have to stop serving
customers indoors again
and it's not clear how much government
funding will be available
okay it's a joke we opened one week ago
and we closed down
this week again and it doesn't working
like that
i'm sure if it's going to like that we
are all going to close down
we will find a different job
there's been no change to the planned
relaxation of the rules over christmas
around the uk
though scotland's first minister made a
plea for people to be cautious
just because we can visit people indoors
over christmas on a limited basis
doesn't mean that we have to any indoor
meeting
between different households obviously
creates a risk the virus will not take a
break
over the christmas period local leaders
in manchester and some other areas of
england which have been at the highest
alert level for some time
are hoping to be moved down because of
falling case numbers
but in wales with hospitals said to be
nearly full there have been calls from
some nhs staff
for a pre-christmas lockdown hugh pim
bbc news
well the education secretary for england
has issued a legal order demanding that
greenwich council in london
withdraw its advice to schools to close
from tomorrow gavin williamson
said that using his legal powers was a
last resort and continuity of education
was
in his words a national priority
greenwich along with islington and
waltham forest
have urged tools to move pupils to
online learning
to help tackle a rise in coronavirus
infections our education editor branwyn
jeffries has more details
arriving for what could be their last
day parents told
schools were being advised to move
online leaving them
facing a sudden child care crisis
it's just too short notice to get any
sort of child care arrangements in place
so you'd even be taking the day off
unpaid coming up to christmas
which is just not doable they have to do
what they have to do it's a shame though
that things have been left till the last
minute
this is something that should have been
done ages ago schools in greenwich
are the first to get this advice from
their council
but ministers insist schools must stay
open
schools have found themselves caught up
in a political battle
and in the end they have to make their
own decisions
so this primary school has told parents
that learning
will move online from the end of today
but some secondary schools who are
academies and have much more freedom
from the local authority
have told parents they will be staying
open until the end of term
at a testing center london's mayor
warned of rising cases
calling for all secondary schools to
shift to remote learning
if you can't keep these schools covered
safe in the last few days before
christmas
it's better to earn the side of caution
and revert to online teaching for these
few days make the schools uh
kobe secured over christmas so in
january they can reopen
another labour london council told
schools to move online
islington said that should continue for
a week in january
tonight in a dramatic intervention this
legal order was issued by the government
greenwich council was directed to
withdraw letters to parents and head
teachers send a government letter
telling schools to stay open
the government says it would enforce
this in court
greenwich council will respond in the
morning
areas that you have picked at math very
different in wales where classroom
teaching
ended last week rapid testing promised
there
in schools in the new year but one union
leader
told me in england schools were caught
between ministers
councils and parents teachers in their
teams are caught between a rock and a
hard place
parents are voting with their feet and
we're having decreasing numbers
of students in school anyway and that
means that there's a toxic mix
of problems for headteachers to deal
with as schools slog
through the last week of term a
political and legal battle
over who decides if they stay fully open
brownwood jefferies bbc news let's talk
a little more about today's developments
in a moment we'll be down to westminster
and talking to vikki young
our deputy political editor first hugh
was with me mr health editor
um 11 days to christmas millions of
people in england are facing much higher
restrictions
what are the factors at work here we
hear first of all this new variant we
heard about today now viruses do mutate
this one's no different
we saw a new variant in spain in october
which pushed infections up
around europe and the health sector i
think conceded it may or may not have
had an impact in the south east of
england
in recent weeks i suspect london and
parts of essex and hertfordshire would
have gone on to tier three
anyway because there is deep concern
about the increase in
cases in that region matt hancock only
at the end of last week said it would be
wednesday this week when he looked at
all tiers
in all regions of england including
london they've had to bring it forward
today because of what they see as a
pivotal moment because of the sharp
increase in cases
it's an attempt to try to curb the
spread of the virus
ahead of the opening up over christmas
now today we've heard
in varying degrees rhetoric from
political leaders and health officials
showing more caution about christmas
saying people have to be really careful
before meeting up with households they
really don't have to if they don't feel
it's
completely necessary because there is a
worry that opening up
will increase cases and that'll put yet
more pressure on the nhs at the busiest
time in january
and some london council leaders have
said today tier three isn't enough they
wanted to go to a tier three plus
with even tighter restrictions to try to
get a grip on things
huge many thanks again hugh pim for us
there and let's stay with that christmas
theme and join vicky down at westminster
there
just uh just a short while ago vicky we
were talking about
a joint approach by the home nations to
christmas and the christmas period
but of course the situation is changing
as we've been reporting
so how much of a political risk is there
around this decision now
look i think listening to politicians
from all four nations
you can hear their anxiety can't you
coming through
pretty loud and clear and quite often
what we're hearing
is what sounds like a contradictory
message on the one hand of course
they're pointing to
in some areas what are still quite
alarming rises
uh pressure on the nhs and yet in just
over a week
millions of people are going to be
allowed to travel across the uk
and mix now there are some mps here in
westminster urging governments
to think again about all of this i don't
get any sense that that is happening
but i do think what they're doing is
urging us to think twice and the words
you're going to hear between now and
christmas is personal
responsibility saying to people please
focus
on the risks just because you're being
allowed to do it it's pretty clear
listening to the politicians everywhere
isn't it that actually
they're discouraging it they're saying
to people think very carefully about who
you're going to meet
and whether they are vulnerable so
before we even get to any christmas
celebrations
the politicians the doctors the
scientists they all seem to be worrying
about what's to come in january and
february
and of course the possibility of
restrictions that might have to be with
us for many more weeks
vicki many thanks again vicky young
therefore us with the latest of
westminster and
hugh pim with me here in the studio
health editor