New national coronavirus lockdown 'to be imposed next week'
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The BBC, Sky News and The Times are all reporting Prime Minister Boris Johnson will bow to pressure from Government scientists to u-turn on the tier stratagey in favour of a blanket lockdown covering the entire country.
The decision has reportedly been reached after ministers saw data which showed hospitals in parts of the country would be overrun with Covid patients before Christmas.
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Hide AdIt is thought the new lockdown will be similar to the one imposed in March with the exception that schools, nurseries and universities will this time remain open.
However, all non-essential shops will close with the measures expected to be in place until at least December 1.
Leading scientists asked the Government ti impose a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown last month but this was resisted by ministers in favour of the current system of regional ‘tiers’.
Tier 2 restrictions were imposed on South Yorkshire just two weeks ago before the region was upgraded to Tier 3 restrictions last week.
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Hide AdThe whole of Derbyshire moved into Tier 2 last week while Nottinghamshire moved up to Tier 3 on Friday.
Hospitals in South Yorkshire currently have 700 patients with Covid-19, almost double the number who were being treated at the previous peak in April.
Yesterday, the UK recorded a further 24,405 new coronavirus cases and 274 new deaths.
It is currently estimated that around 100,000 people are catching the virus every day in the UK.