This is when Mansfield's lockdown rules will be reviewed, after Nottinghamshire is placed under Tier 3 restrictions
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That means pubs and restaurants must close and households cannot mix indoors or in private gardens, though non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen.
But when is the earliest that could change, with Mansfield potentially being moved into one of the two lower tiers, and how will the decision be made?
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Hide AdThe Government has said it will review which areas are placed into which tiers every 14 days, meaning the first review will take place by Wednesday, December 16.
It says that places which continue to make progress in slowing the spread of the disease could be moved down a tier ahead of Christmas.
Should Mansfield be downgraded to Tier 2, people from different households would be allowed to meet in gardens, and cafes and restaurants could reopen, along with pubs serving substantial meals.
It would also mean limited spectators being allowed at sports stadiums.
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Hide AdFuture decisions will be made using the same criteria as the original assessment, which are:
Case detection rate (in all age groups and, in particular, amongst the over 60s)
How quickly case rates are rising or falling
Positivity in the general population
Pressure on the NHS – including current and projected (3-4 weeks out) NHS capacity – including admissions, general/acute/ICU bed occupancy, staff absences
Local context and exceptional circumstances such as a local but contained outbreak.
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Hide AdThe Government said that the tiers had been toughened and more areas had been placed into the higher tiers ‘in order to safeguard the gains made’ during the national lockdown.
Announcing its rationale for placing Nottinghamshire into Tier 3 lockdown, the Government said: “There has been an improvement, but case rates remain very high in the over-60s at 211 per 100,000. The overall case rate is 244 per 100,000 and positivity is 10%. The proportion of hospital beds taken up by Covid-19 patients is high but appears to be falling.”
The latest weekly Covid-19 infection rate for Mansfield, for the seven days to November 21, is 280.8 new cases per 100,000 people – down from 334.8 during the previous week.
Tier 3 areas like Nottinghamshire will get access to rapid-turnaround later flow tests to help bring down infections and have the restrictions eased.
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Hide AdThey will also be offered support from NHS Test and Trace and the Armed Forces to deliver a six-week rapid community testing programme.
Announcing the new tiers, health secretary Matt Hancock said: “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.
“By following the rules together we can get out of these tough measures.”
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Hide AdThe Joint Biosecurity Centre will work closely with Public Health England and the NHS to monitor the latest figures before advising the Chief Medical Officer and ministers.
Final decisions about tiers are made by the Prime Minister at the COVID Operations Committee.
Responding to the announcement, Mansfield MP Ben Bradley said: “As expected, its been confirmed that Nottinghamshire will enter in to Tier 3. This will be reviewed every two weeks and the hope is that we can reduce restrictions and move to lower levels over time, ahead of rolling out vaccinations and ending restrictions altogether in the spring.”
The different tiers do not affect the arrangements for Christmas, when the Government has said up to three households can form a bubble and meet at home between December 23 and 27.