PM’s latest announcement

The Prime Minister has confirmed that current restrictions will remain in place in England until midnight on 2 December. After that, new strengthened regional tiers will be put in place for local restrictions.

Currently, the three tiers are:

Tier 1: Medium alert

Tier 2: High alert

Tier 3: Very High alert

On Thursday 26 November, the government will announce which areas are in which tier and the tiers will be strengthened.

Highlights from the announcement are that from 2 December businesses in all tiers can remain open, providing they follow COVID-19 secure guidelines.  This encompasses:

• Essential and non-essentialretail (including indoor and outdoor markets) – includes leisure vehicle dealerships
• Leisure and sporting facilities such as gyms, sports courts and facilities, leisure centres, fitness and dance studios, golf courses, swimming pools, riding centres, outdoor playgrounds.

Full details can be found here.

Businesses in the following tiers will need to observe the following restrictions:

• Tier 1: people should continue to work from home where possible
• Tiers 1 and 2: holiday and guest accommodation to open and spectator sports will also be able to resume with limits on attendance
• Tiers 1 and 2: business events can be held subject to capacity constraints
• Tier 2: pubs will only be able to serve drinks with a meal
• Tier 3: indoor entertainment and hotels/guest accommodation will close, and restaurants and pubs will only be able to provide delivery and takeaway services
• There will be no additional local rules in Tier 3 areas
• Tiers 1 and 2: The curfew will remain at 10pm but customers will have an hour to finish their drink/meal.

Government also announced its Winter Plan which starts by saying “the scientific cavalry is almost here” – it can be read in full here.