Liverpool City Region’s new higher tier lockdown measures – what do they mean?

Liverpool’s pubs, bars, gyms and leisure centres, casinos and bookies will have to close on Wednesday as the city faces the toughest lockdown measures in the country.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s latest House of Commons announcement confirmed that Liverpool City Region – Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, Halton and St Helens – would be placed in the highest tier of the Government’s new three-tier lockdown system.

Restaurants, shops, universities and schools will all remain open. 

The measures, which will affect around 1.5million people, will come into force from Wednesday and could last for up to six months although local leaders have pressed for a monthly review.

In the seven days leading up to October 9, Liverpool and Knowsley recorded two of the top five highest case numbers in the UK. The latest weekly rate of Covid-19 in Liverpool is 608.6 per 100,000 population and the city’s coronavirus hospital admissions are reportedly now the third highest in Europe.

The total number of confirmed cases in Liverpool for Oct 3-9 has risen to 3031, an increase of 377 cases on the previous week. Going back to the week beginning September 1, there were 94 cases per week so there has been what the city council describes as “a rapid and worrying increase in cases.”

The Prime Minister said he had been working with local government leaders in the Liverpool City Region ahead of the announcement and he thanked Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and his colleagues for their co-operation.

He confirmed plans for economic support to be expanded in areas where businesses were being forced to close, through the Chancellor’s Job Support Scheme which would pay two thirds of the wages of those who were unable to work, and offer cash grants for businesses of up to £3,000 per month.  He said there would also be funding made available for a local track and trace system.