Talks with North East leaders on tier 3 restrictions continuing, Downing Street confirms

It comes as Gateshead’s director of public health said the infection rates in the region mean local authorities are ‘fighting a losing battle’ in slowing the spread of coronavirus.

Local leaders in the North East – as well as the North West and Yorkshire and Humber – are continuing talks with the Government over possible further restrictions, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman has said.

They added: “That is part of the effort that we are making to create the maximum possible consensus behind the more strict kinds of local intervention.”

The spokesman said under Tier 2 and 3 rules on household mixing people can still meet up for work meetings under certain circumstances.

“There is a specific exemption which says that people from different households can gather in indoor settings that are open for work purposes,” the spokesman said.

“The reason that is there is that there are some people such as the self-employed and freelancers who may not have a workplace to conduct business meeting that need to take place face-to-face.

“We would encourage people to use alternatives to work meetings where possible.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to hold a press conference where he is expected to outline the next steps for Greater Manchester this afternoon (Tuesday, October 20).

The region had been given a deadline of lunchtime today (October 20) to agree to a deal. The deadline has now passed.

Meanwhile a North East director of public health has said the region are fighting a losing battle on how long further restrictions can be held off.

Alice Wiseman, director of public health for Gateshead, told the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus: “Whilst we’ve still got the number of cases that we’ve got in our area, we know that we are fighting a losing battle in many ways in terms of how long we can hold off for further restrictions.

“So, ideally, I think it would have been that we would have got our house in order during the summer months, when the numbers were much lower.”

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Sunderland Echo website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here. Thank you.