Coronavirus: Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire head towards Tier 3
More areas are set to enter into England's highest COVID alert level.
Thursday 22 October 2020 19:18, UK
Talks to place Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire under Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions are under way.
This includes the areas in the Midlands controlled by Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council.
The prime minister's spokesman added that talks are also taking place with West Yorkshire.
It comes as Stoke-on-Trent's council asked to be moved up to Tier 2 due to rising infections there.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council leader Abi Brown said she hoped to stem infections and stop a "further escalation" to Tier 3.
It comes after four students at Nottingham Trent University were fined £10,000 each for throwing a party earlier this week.
The areas under Tier 3 restrictions already are the Liverpool City Region, Lancashire, including Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen, Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire.
Nottingham has faced a substantial rise in the number of cases in the area recently.
It was reported last week that the rate of new COVID-19 infections in the East Midlands had jumped from 48.8 cases per 100,000 people to 164.1 in the preceding fortnight.
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Councillor David Mellen, leader of Nottingham City Council, said: "We can confirm we have received a diary invite for an introductory meeting with a government minister later this afternoon along with the leader of the county.
"We will be keen to robustly discuss and understand any impact of Tier 3 given the approximate two-week time lag before we see any potential impact, especially as we are starting to see the numbers reduce now in the current Tier 2 level.
"As part of what we expect will be ongoing discussions starting today, we will be focused on negotiating a financial support package that will help protect the health of local people, save lives and also the livelihoods of local people and businesses in the city."
In West Yorkshire, the largest city in the area - Leeds - saw its infection rate drop by 12% in the week to 18 October.
But the areas of Wakefield, Calderdale, Kirklees and Bradford all saw their infection rates rise.
Bradford had the highest rate, sitting at 361.1 cases per 100,000 - with Leeds just behind at 348.3 despite its drop.
The UK average for the timespan was 162.6 cases per 100,000.