Covid-19: South Gloucestershire rules called 'unfair'

Coronavirus restrictions on a council area near Bristol are "unfair" and "wrong" after the city itself dropped to a lower tier.

South Gloucestershire Council leader Toby Savage added the decision to keep his area - north of Bristol - in tier three was "inconsistent".

Neighbouring Bristol dropped to tier two and nearby North Somerset also dropped to two.

Local MP Chris Skidmore has also questioned the decision.

Conservative MP for Kingswood, Mr Skidmore, has written to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty to question the "contradictory" decision.

In his letter to Mr Hancock and Prof Whitty, Mr Skidmore said he was "very disappointed" to hear South Gloucestershire will remain under the strictest rules, and "crucial local factors" had not been taken into account.

He said South Gloucestershire "shares the same health ecosystem" as the Bristol area "with hospitals, healthcare services and local populations being closely entwined".

South Gloucestershire is the authority area directly north of Bristol. The area's biggest hospital, Southmead, in Bristol, sits around a mile (1.6km) from the border.

He added current rates "have come down" and the case detection rate in the over-60s was lower than in Bristol and North Somerset.

"I would therefore welcome an explanation for the contradictory decision to place Bristol and North Somerset in tier two while keeping South Gloucestershire in tier three, as this decision may suggest these crucial local factors have not been taken into consideration during this first review," he wrote.

Sara Blackmore, director of public health at South Gloucestershire Council, said there was "considerable pressure" on the local health and care system and cases were on the rise again.

"We are all looking forward to the time when we can safely ease the restrictions that are causing pressure on our lives and our businesses, but if we ease those rules too quickly, we raise the risk of having to go back into a more restrictive regime again."

When deciding on the tiers, the Government looks at coronavirus cases across all age groups and specifically among the over-60s, who are considered most at risk.

Officials also look at whether infection rates are rising or falling in the area and the positivity rate - meaning the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken.

Pressure on the NHS is also taken into account, including current and projected occupancy.

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