Will Sunderland go into Tier 4? How the city has fared against Covid since the last review

It is widely expected that more areas in England will move into Tier 4 – meaning they will be subjected to the toughest measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a meeting of the Government’s Covid-19 Operations committee on Tuesday evening (December 29) where the decisions what areas will be changing tiers were made.

It is understood that the Health Secretary will announce those decisions after MPs have passed key legislation on the post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union on Wednesday, December 30.

It is understood that council bosses in the North East believe that a national lockdown is the only way of protecting health and care services along with the most vulnerable, with the region “on the cusp” of Tier 4.

Will Sunderland move into Tier 4? This is what the Government looks at when making a decision

- The number of cases

The last tier review took place on Thursday, December 17, with Sunderland and the rest of the North East remaining in Tier 3.

Since then, Sunderland has seen 966 confirmed cases between December 17 to December 29, an increase compared to the 712 cases recorded in the ten days leading up to December 16.

- Pressure on the NHS in the local area

Ministers look at how the NHS is coping in areas across England and could choose to impose stricter measures if it deems there is a risk of the NHS becoming overwhelmed.

Healthcare leaders at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust revealed two weeks ago that they had the same amount of Covid patients in hospital that they did at the peak of the pandemic in April.

As a result, further restrictions have been implemented at hospitals across the trust in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

- Infection rates

The current case rate for Wearside is 182.2 per 100,000 people with 506 cases in the seven days leading up to December 25.

That is up from the previous week where the case rate was 167.8 per 100,000 people.

Case rate among older people

One of the factors the government has said it takes into consideration when looking at tier changes is how prevalent the illness is within over-60s who are more vulnerable.

In Sunderland the case rate among over-60s has been dropping in recent days and has been below the case rate for those aged under 60 since November.

The current case rate among the over-60s in Sunderland is 123.1 per 100,000 compared to 234.1 per 100,000 in the under-60s.

Click here to keep up to date with live updates as the tier announcements are made.

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