Covid: South Yorkshire to move into tier 3 from Saturday

South Yorkshire will face the toughest Covid rules from Saturday, the mayor for the Sheffield City Region has said.

Labour Mayor Dan Jarvis said the move to tier three followed "extensive discussions" with ministers.

The new restrictions will apply to all four local authority areas in South Yorkshire - Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield.

It comes as Greater Manchester is to move into tier three from Friday against the wishes of local leaders.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the £60m offered to Greater Manchester to support businesses and workers affected by the new restrictions would be distributed to the region's boroughs. It follows a breakdown in talks with local leaders, who had called for at least £65m.

The new rules in South Yorkshire will come into force from 00:01 BST on Saturday.

Under tier three, England's "very high" level of alert, pubs and bars that do not serve substantial meals have to close, and there are further restrictions on households mixing.

Additional rules in South Yorkshire include the closure of betting shops, adult gaming centres, casinos, soft play centres and gym classes - though gyms will remain open.

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Health minister Edward Argar told MPs there have been more than 12,000 cases in South Yorkshire so far in October - more than in July, August and September combined - while the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has reached more than half that seen at the height of the pandemic.

He said he was aware the measures would "entail further sacrifice", but "bearing down hard" would help to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Local leaders in South Yorkshire have agreed to a financial package of £41m, which includes £30m to support the region's businesses and £11m for local authorities to support public health measures like contact tracing.

Mr Jarvis said it was the "responsible route" and that "inaction was not an option" after its hospital admissions doubled in 10 days.

He said a "local lockdown lifeline" from the government meant "we are better equipped to control the virus and limit some of the damage on jobs and businesses".
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Analysis box by Nick Eardley, political correspondent

It's worth remembering some of the thinking behind the local tier system.

It was supposed to allow rapid interventions in areas where the virus was spreading - and to get the backing of local leaders, sharing expertise but also responsibility for decisions.

Neither has proved easy.

Negotiations have taken a long time - around 10 days in some areas.

The row with Greater Manchester shows getting local backing for restrictions is far from guaranteed.

The announcement of a deal in South Yorkshire will allow ministers to say that some Labour politicians, like Sheffield's Dan Jarvis, are being more pragmatic and realistic when it comes to deals.

But the new strategy has not always gone according to plan.
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The government's three-tier strategy of regional measures is designed to avoid a national lockdown.

Any areas in tier three will have its status reviewed after 28 days, the prime minister said.

The simplest way for areas to get out of those restrictions was to get the reproduction number, the rate at which the virus is spreading, down to one or below, Boris Johnson told MPs. Rates of admission to hospital and other data would also be taken into account, he added.