Essex will be moved to the second level of lockdown after leaders across the province demanded tighter restrictions.
As it stands, Essex, along with most of England, is rated a “medium” risk area, but from Saturday the rules will change.
Today Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that Essex will be moved to the “high standard” level.
This will mean that on Saturday, residents of Essex will have to follow tighter restrictions including not being allowed to meet those of other families at home.
This comes after calls from members of parliament and parliament for more measures to deal with the high rate of infection in Essex, and this means that there will be a ban on meeting other families inside.
Dr Mike Gujarty, Director of Public Health at Essex, is a key advocate for tighter restrictions.
On a live broadcast of Sen and Jim yesterday, He said, “The truth is we’re going to get to a level in two weeks where the Secretary of State will say you should be on alert 2 and we think if we go to alert level two, it’s like putting the brakes on a car at 20 mph instead of 70 mph.”
“You can turn it over faster, get out of it faster. That is the logic – to protect people in Essex.”
You can follow our blog live throughout the day here:
