Covid UK news – live: Boris Johnson warns of new year lockdown if we ease off now, as new tiers revealed

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Stay tuned for rolling updates and statistics.

A further 696 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, the highest daily figure reported since 5 May.

The government said as of 9am on Wednesday there had been a further 18,213 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,557,007.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 72,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

Samuel Osborne has the story:

Matt Hancock is set to announce which tier each local authority in England will fall under after the end of the national lockdown.

The health secretary will make the announcement in parliament on Thursday following the Covid-19 “winter plan” being laid out by the government earlier this week. 

Each area will be placed into one of three tiers when lockdown ends on December 2 - but the system has been toughened from the previous regime, meaning more authorities will move into the higher tiers.

Areas which make progress in slowing the spread of the virus could still be moved down a tier before Christmas, however, with the first review of the allocations due to take place by 16 December.

Reports late on Wednesday suggested there would be few areas in England placed in Tier 1, with parts of eastern England and remote areas in Cornwall and Cumbria expected to be allocated the lightest measures.

London was expected to go in Tier 2 along with the majority of the country.

Mr Hancock said yesterday: “Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice made by people up and down the country, we are able to move out of national lockdown and into more targeted local, tiered restrictions.

“I know for those of you faced with Tier 3 restrictions this will be a particularly difficult time but I want to reassure you that we'll be supporting your areas with mass community testing and extra funding.”

Decisions on tier levels would be based on a number of factors, including case detection rates in all age groups and, in particular, amongst the over 60s, The Department of Health said.

How quickly case rates are rising or falling will also be taken into account, as will local pressure on the NHS, including current and projected capacity.

The final decisions will be made by Boris Johnson at the Covid Operations Committee, officials confirmed.

Boris Johnson has admitted more regions will fall “at least temporarily” into the highest levels of restrictions than before the current lockdown was imposed on 5 November.  

There is even speculation of fourth, highest, tier being introduced but which regions are likely to fall under tier 1, and which will sit in tier 2 and tier 3?

From London to the northwest and everywhere in between, Chiara Giordano has analysed the figures to assess which region will likely fall where:

Officials in Exeter say the city’s Nightingale Hospital will receive its first coronavirus patients on Thursday. The hospital, which has a 116-bed capacity, will take on patients transferred from the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust as it is “very busy”.

A spokesperson for the Nightingale Hospital Exeter said on Wednesday: “We would ask that the public continue to observe the Government’s advice on observing the lockdown and social distancing so that we can keep patients safe.”

Construction work on the Nightingale site in Exeter started in May and was finished in July. It was used for diagnostic tests throughout the summer, including around 200 CT scans and 100 ultrasounds, reports Kate Ng:

Andy Burnham has called out the government for failing to support the areas set to be placed in the tightest coronavirus restrictions once the national lockdown is lifted next Wednesday. 

Matt Hancock will confirm the tiers - either 1, 2 or 3 - that local authorities across England will be placed in on 2 December in an address to the Commons at around 11.30am.

Mr Burnham appeared to be reacting to an analysis of a Treasury document, in which it was revealed that Liverpool would be receiving half the financial support given to areas such as Kent or the Isle of Wight. 

“Places put into Tier 3 today will get no additional business support funding than those in Tier 1 or Tier 2,” the Labour mayor said, before adding: “Can that possibly be fair?”

It is not yet known whether Manchester will remain in tier 3 lockdown, though many in the area have presumed this to be the case already. 

Average pay packets are on track to be £1,200 a year lower by 2025 compared to pre-pandemic forecasts, according to a new analysis claiming the coronavirus crisis will prolong Britain’s 15-year squeeze on household incomes.

The Resolution Foundation warned that despite politicians proclaiming the era of austerity is over, “its legacy will continue for many public services” throughout the course of the current parliament.

It comes after Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, set out the government’s one-year spending review and also highlighted official figures showing the UK economy shrank by 11.3 per cent in 2020 in the worst recession for 300 years.

Ashley Cowburn, our political correspondent, has the story:

Covid vaccines in Africa might not start until the second quarter of 2021, the continent’s top public health official said on Thursday. 

The director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters he had “seen how Africa is neglected when drugs are available” in the past.

He said it would be “extremely dangerous” if more developed parts of the world vaccinate themselves and then restrict travel to people with proof of a vaccination.

Mr Nkengasong also warned that “it's clear the second wave (of infections) is here on the continent” of 1.3 billion people. Africa last week surpassed 2 million confirmed coronavirus infections.

The Africa CDC has been discussing vaccine options with Russia, China and others as it seeks not to be left behind in the race to obtain doses. Mr Nkengasong said the continent will need about 1.5 billion doses to reach the 60 per cent coverage needed for herd immunity.

“The worst thing we want for the continent is for Covid to become an endemic disease” in Africa, he said.

Authorities have begun distributing 2.7 million antigen tests across Africa, which Mr Nkengasong said is “perhaps a game-changer” that allows for faster and easier testing.

So far, about 21 million tests have been conducted across Africa’s 54 countries.

Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia have tested positive for coronavirus, the Swedish royal court has confirmed.

The court said in a statement on Thursday that both royals are feeling well under the circumstances, adding that King Karl XIV Gustaf, Queen Silvia, the prince’s older sister Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel would be tested during the day.

Kate Ng has all the details: