Infection rates have significantly decreased in a number of boroughs.
Greater Manchester could be split into different tiering systems due to varying infection rates, Andy Burnham has suggested today in a press conference. The news comes as it’s confirmed that London now has the highest infection rate in the country, narrowly dodging tier 3 just two weeks ago.
📊 The last slide is a table showing a comparison between case rates in GM, London and Liverpool city-region when decisions were made on tiering.
🗣️ @SirRichardLeese says the numbers present a clear case for Greater Manchester to be moved into Tier 2 restrictions.
— Mayor of Greater Manchester (@MayorofGM) December 10, 2020
Speaking alongside Sir Richard Leese and Bev Hughes, the Mayor discussed that there has been a ‘significant decline’ in hospital admissions across the region, however, there is currently varying infection rates – leading to Burnham adding that “it does make sense” to consider any changes on a borough by borough basis. The move would mean that authorities wouldn’t have to ‘hold back’ areas (especially businesses) in boroughs less affected by the virus. Burnham did confirm, however, that despite the idea of considering tier changes on a borough basis, there was still a case to level down as one whole region.
Andy Burnham also called out to Ministers during the press conference, urging them to give the ‘wider consideration’ to Manchester that they did to London when making the tiering decisions. The call out comes as it was forecast earlier today that 100,000 people could lose their jobs in Greater Manchester by June 2021, according to Lou Cordwell of The Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership.
Burnham said: “This is a critical time for the economy, particularly the city-centre economy
“If you were to keep cities in Tier 3 over the holiday period, it does have the effect of creating an incentive for people to have more informal gatherings in the home”
We’re now hearing from @Loucordwell, Co-Chair of the @GMLEP, on the impact of the current situation on businesses.
🗣️ “We remain hugely concerned by the scale of the impact to our local economy,” including fears of 100,000 people becoming unemployed in GM next year, she says.
— Mayor of Greater Manchester (@MayorofGM) December 10, 2020
The government will re-assess the current assigned tiers for regions on December 16th, with an announcement set to be made on December 17th – according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
Here are the current infection rates for Manchester boroughs:
- Bury: 225.7/100,000 (+5%)
- Rochdale: 215.4/100,000 (-19%)
- Wigan: 187.1/100,000 (-12%)
- Manchester: 169.9/100,000 (-10%)
- Bolton: 163.5/100,000 (-26%)
- Oldham: 153.5%/100,000 (-33%)
- Salford: 129.8%/100,000 (-17%)
- Tameside: 117.9%/100,000 (-20%)
- Stockport: 113.5%/100,000 (-18%)
- Trafford: 85.1%/100,000 (-30%)
England’s national average currently sits at 152.1%/100,000, with Tier 2 London’s infection rate now confirmed at 192%/100,000.
*Cases correct as of December 5th, based on PHE data.