As the UK emerged from a lockdown in early December in order to allow semi normal situations for Christmas, a tier 4 lockdown has been implemented again to avoid “human disaster”. On Wednesday 23 December the new lockdown policy was reimplemented with Boris Johnson officially announcing that there will be another tier 4 lockdown in the UK. Yet it was not as strict at the original lockdown. As well as this, London and some parts of the South East were placed in the toughest tier, but areas such as Cambridgeshire and Sussex will join those areas from Boxing Day.


 

The government believes that “Tier three restrictions failed to control the coronavirus rates in some of the worst hit areas, and so the Government introduced a fourth tier”. This means that the rules have changed and become much more serious being quite similar to the original Covid lockdown rules. In tier 4 all non-essential shops were closed down such as restaurants along with pubs, gyms and swimming pools as well as indoor entertainment. You are not allowed to stay away from home overnight and you have to work at home if you are able to.

 

However there are still some aspects of normal life that are not prohibited by the new tier. This includes places of worship not being closed, people are still allowed to meet up with one other person in another household. This shows that the government is trying to keep life to seem normal while still implementing the necessary restriction to prevent another large wave. For the foreseeable future school will not be closed but since in the UK we are currently in the Christmas holidays it is possible that schools will close come 2021, if cases have a sharp incline.

 

Experts have been giving their opinions to the government some of which include: The UK is sleepwalking into a "human disaster" unless there's a full New Year lockdown with Tier 4 everywhere, a Sage scientist has said[1].

Professor Robert West warned the UK was facing potential catastrophe after Christmas as the new strain of the virus continued to spread around the country[2].

Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned last night the new Covid strain was "everywhere" in the UK and that tougher measures would likely be needed to contain it[3].

Professor West said an "economic human and social disaster" would follow unless the Government built up contact tracing systems similar to ones in East Asia[4].

He told the Guardian: "We need to reset our strategy and move rapidly to a zero Covid strategy of the kind that many have been proposing[5].

Personally I think the government is doing well in stopping the mass spread of Covid 19 and they are doing so while also ensuring that it is not effecting people every day life completely but doing what is necessary. Yet as we have seen since schools have reopened there has been a large rise in cases and yet the government has decided not to close down schools, which could have been the reason for the large spike. Hopefully the government notices this and if cases start to rise again they take the necessary precautions in closing down schools

 

[1] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tier-4-lockdown-across-uk-23206311

[2] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tier-4-lockdown-across-uk-23206311

[3] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tier-4-lockdown-across-uk-23206311

[4] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tier-4-lockdown-across-uk-23206311

[5] https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tier-4-lockdown-across-uk-23206311