Tens of thousands of residents in low-infection towns and villages had their hopes of ‘decoupling’ from the tiers of surrounding coronavirus hotspots dashed yesterday.
In a letter to Tory MPs, Matt Hancock said that ‘narrow carve-outs’ of areas with lower rates of infection often leads to them ‘catching up’ or ‘overtaking’ areas with a higher prevalence of Covid.
It comes ahead of a review of the tier system on Wednesday. The Health Secretary’s comments are set to disappoint Tory MPs in areas that come under stringent Tier Two or Three restrictions because of high infection rates elsewhere in their county.
Updated: 13 Dec 2020, 10:33
RURAL low-Covid areas will not be decoupled from coronavirus hotspots as it may trigger infections, it has been reported.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote to MPs warning that putting rural areas into lower tiers would result in them catching up and overtaking neighbouring hotspots.
3
It comes after several Tory MPs representing rural constituencies urged against harsher restrictions.
Many complained they were put in Tier 3 because of how close they are to ares with higher infection rates.
Boris Johnson has previously promised that the review of tiers would be done on a more granular basis.
There are hopes that rural areas like Lincolnshire and North Somerset could be placed into lower tiers.
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