Parts of Sussex, London and South East could face tighter Covid-19 restrictions

Parts of Sussex, together with London and the South East could be placed under tighter coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

According to reports in the national press today (Saturday, December 19), the region could potentially be cut off from the rest of the UK under a travel ban in order to contain the virus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be addressing the nation later, which is expected to be at 4pm.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Hastings and Rother was placed under tougher Tier 3 restrictions from today due to rising infection rates.

CoronavirusCoronavirus
Coronavirus

The rest of East Sussex and West Sussex, together with Brighton and Hove, are under Tier 2.

London was placed in Tier 3 earlier this week.

Today’s developments come after a new variant of Covid-19 was recently discovered, which has so far been confined to London and the South East.

Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty said: “As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly.

“We have alerted the World Health Organisation and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding.

“There is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments although urgent work is underway to confirm this.

“Given this latest development it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission.”

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.