Britain continues to battle a second wave of coronavirus with 21,238 new infections and a further 189 fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours. From today, around 2.8 million people in Greater Manchester will join some 3.1 million in Lancashire and the Liverpool City Region in the most severe tier-three restrictions. In the “very high” alert level, households are banned from mixing, pubs and bars must close unless they can operate as a restaurant, and people are advised against travelling to and from the area.
The ever-changing rules has left many, including a leading police chief, confused as to what people can and cannot do.
A leading study by University College London (UCL) has suggested around half of the public do not “fully understand” the current coronavirus lockdown rules.
The COVID-19 Social Study found around half of adults (51 percent) said they understand the current restrictions, while only 13 percent of the respondents said they “fully understand” them.
This represented a significant drop from when the country was placed under lockdown in March and April, when the survey found 90 percent of understood the guidelines.
Coronavirus poll: Should Boris Johnson introduce a national lockdown (Image: GETTY)
The Prime Minister has resisted calls for a second national lockdown (Image: PA)
The Prime Minister suffered an embarrassing moment this week when Assistant Chief Constable for Hertfordshire Constabulary Owen Weatherill admitted the current restrictions were not clear.
The police chief urged the Government to “make some of the messaging much simpler so that the public could understand it”.
Speaking to the Home Affairs Select Committee, he said: “I made strong representations there that we should look for simplified, consistent tiers, that would be the same wherever they were applied. That’s what I thought was going to happen 10 days ago.
“The reality now is already starting to drift, and as we are seeing with tier-three there are nuances creeping in.”
Under tier-three pubs must close if they cannot operate as a restaurant (Image: PA)
Variations in the rules within tier-three has been a major source of confusions, after indoor gyms in the Liverpool City Region were forced to close, but gyms in Merseyside were permitted to stay open.
From midnight on Saturday, large areas of South Yorkshire, including Sheffield and Barnsley will move from tier-two into tier three.
The vast region will be subject to the same rules, despite Mayor of the Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis admitting “infection rates vary across South Yorkshire”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Slough will move into tier-two at one minute past midnight on Saturday.
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Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham clashed with the Government over funding (Image: PA)
The regions join vast parts of the UK including West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Nottinghamshire, London and Essex in the “high” risk level.
In tier-two, households are unable to mix indoors and the rule of six applies to private gardens and outdoor spaces.
Pubs and restaurants can remain open, but no mixing of households inside venues is permitted.
Meanwhile, in tier-one, gatherings of more than six people is banned, apart from some settings such as funerals and weddings.
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England has been divided into three coronavirus alert levels (Image: EXPRESS)
A 10pm curfew for bars, pubs and restaurants remains in place with households and support bubbles permitted to mix.
At a Downing Street briefing on Thursday, Mr Johnson stood by his three-tier system and resisted calls for another national lockdown.
He said: “I think that that really would be economically, socially, psychologically really very damaging and difficult for the country.”
