Covid-19: Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire move to tier 3

Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and all of Hertfordshire will move into England's highest tier of coronavirus restrictions.

The government has announced these areas, currently in tier two, will be tier three from 00:01 GMT on Saturday.

The restrictions will see pubs and restaurants closed, except for takeaway and delivery services.

Hertsmere, Three Rivers, Watford and Broxbourne in Hertfordshire moved into tier three on Wednesday.

All 18 of the local authority areas in these three counties are seeing the number of cases per 100,000 of the population rise, with 10 of them above the England-wide average rate of 205.7 per 100,000 people.

Broxbourne, with 556.1 cases per 100,000 people, has the ninth-highest case rate in England.

The district's case rate increased by 183% between 26 November and 16 December.

The Chiltern area in Buckinghamshire also saw a high increase in cases between the two dates, at 160%.

Tier three restrictions mean households must not mix indoors or outdoors in hospitality venues or private gardens, and the rule of six applies in outdoor public spaces.

Indoor entertainment venues must also shut and no fans will be allowed in sport stadiums.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the situation in Hertfordshire had deteriorated with case rates increasing by more than 30% in the last seven days.

This "concerning" rate had led to the immediate escalation of Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and Three Rivers to tier three this week, but the situation had continued to deteriorate in other Hertfordshire areas.

It was this plus the rise in daily Covid hospital admissions, and the county's close proximity to surrounding tier three areas, that warranted the whole county moving to the Very High Alert level.

Hertfordshire County Council's Conservative leader, David Williams, asked residents to "all stay disciplined and stick to the guidance and rules if we are to improve the situation in our county".

"We fully recognise the huge impact this move into tier three will have on families and businesses," he said.

"Ultimately, we must all keep playing our part to help reduce the number of cases in the county and take the key steps towards resuming our normal lives."

The DHSC said the situation in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes had also deteriorated, with overall case rates increasing and remaining greater than 150 per 100,000 of the population.

Data from recent days showed rapid increases in Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, and a very high rate in Luton, with rates in people aged over 60 in all four areas remaining above 100 per 100,000 people.

Luton council's director of public health, Lucy Hubber, said that while the Very High Alert level meant some new restrictions would come in, the main message for the town remained the same. She said people should remember the "hands face space" advice, self-isolate when needed and get a rapid test at a community testing centre.

"We also need to continue to not mix with people we don't live with. As hard as this is for many of us, it is the best way to slow the spread of this disease," she said.

"Luton's case rates remain very high and unfortunately we've recently seen some evidence of people breaking the rules that are put in place to protect us."

Dave Hodgson, the elected Liberal Democrat mayor of Bedford, where the case rate has risen from 134.5 to 240.1 per 100,000 people in a week, said the rise seen locally since the end of lockdown was "deeply worrying".

"We have to be clear, we have not been pulled into tier three by any surrounding authorities - Bedford Borough has seen a steep rise in cases, and as a community we have to get a handle on it," he said.

"These restrictions have been put in place to bring down our local infection rate, and keep people as safe as possible in the run-up to Christmas."

Peter Marland, Labour leader of Milton Keynes Council, tweeted that the authority had "no prior notification" of moving into tier three.

"We were missed off the statement in Parliament. Utter shambles," he said.

Buckinghamshire Council's Conservative leader Martin Tett said he was "bitterly disappointed" the county had moved to tier three.

"So soon after the good news about the vaccine roll out, if anyone needed a reminder about how serious a threat coronavirus remains, then this is it," he said.

He said the county would continue to work with its MPs, the local NHS and local business organisations to "understand the full implications for our residents, our businesses and of course for people's health and wellbeing".

Luton Town confirmed supporters would not be allowed at upcoming matches.

"We are truly sorry that those season ticket holders who have not yet been able to attend either of the Norwich or Preston matches will have to wait a little longer to come back to live football," a statement said.

The Maltings Theatre's production of Peter Pan at the Alban Arena in St Albans must be cut short.

Director Adam Nichols said the company had been tested all year and up until now had managed to "keep producing work within government guidelines".

"We will be back in 2021 but for now, we're extremely disappointed with the decision - especially as we have been given only 36 hours' notice," he said.

Milton Keynes Theatre has confirmed that its traditional - but socially distanced - pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, which was due to open at this weekend will not be able to go ahead with performances up to 10 January, but it was "busy reviewing" the latest announcement.

Paradise Wildlife Park, near Broxbourne, said it would be able to stay open because it is an outdoor attraction, but it would have to close its indoor habitats including the Angkor Reptile Temple and its rainforest building.

With rates of infection rising of late, the move to tier three for all parts of Beds, Herts and Bucks is no surprise.

Even areas like Central Bedfordshire, which have previously seen quite low rates, have seen an increase in the last couple of weeks.

Although case rates aren't the only criteria the government considers, the fact that Milton Keynes now has a higher rate than Luton (which for weeks had the highest in the East) and more deaths in the last seven days, would have sealed the town's fate, along with its neighbours in Bedford Borough, Luton and Central Bedfordshire.

Buckinghamshire moves up to tier three as a whole county, despite some of its MPs lobbying for restrictions to be made on a more localised level.

It's a similar story for the rest of Hertfordshire, where the remaining six districts - Stevenage, St Albans, Welwyn, North Herts, East Herts and Dacorum - will join Hertsmere, Broxbourne, Three Rivers and Watford in the top tier from Saturday morning.

Rates in Stevenage and North Herts are low compared to the rest of the county, but a request to the government by their Conservative MPs Stephen McPartland and Sir Oliver Heald, asking to be treated separately, has seemingly fallen on deaf ears.

The feeling from councils and politicians I've spoken to this week is that the government has imposed these restrictions on them, rather than involving them in the decision-making.

The table below shows how many people have tested positive for coronavirus in the week to 11 December by county, and the figure at the same point a week ago.

The table below shows how many people have died from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.

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