Matt Hancock issues update on Tier 4 restrictions and says he will ‘rule nothing out’

inews reported over the weekend that discussions were underway in Whitehall and local authorities for a Plan B to tackle the second wave of Covid-19 if the three-tier system has not made a difference by November.

These options reportedly include dialing up the tier three restrictions to ‘tier three plus’ or tier four to bring the R value of transmission below 1.

Extra tier four restrictions could include shutting restaurants and non essential retail such as clothing shops.

The Health Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “We’ve always said all along that we take nothing off the table.

“Having said that, we have seen the rise in the number of cases has slowed a bit.

“The problem is it’s still going up, and while it’s still going up we’ve got to act to get it under control.

“We rule nothing out but at the moment the three-tier system is what we’re working to and it’s effective in slowing the growth of this virus but it hasn’t brought this curve to a halt.”

Mr Hancock added that the idea of reducing isolation time for people who have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 from 14 days to seven is “entirely led by the clinical science”.

He told Sky News: “It’s always under review. You might remember that a couple of months ago we increased the amount of time that people who have a positive test have to isolate from seven days to 10 days.

“That’s a clinical decision.”

Mr Hancock said France has reduced the amount of time people have to isolate based on clinical advice, adding: “So it isn’t about the compliance issue. It’s about the overall clinical judgment of what time is required for isolation.

“Obviously I’d rather have isolation as short as is reasonably possible because of the impact it has on people’s lives, but it must be safe.”

He said the Government will be “guided by the science as we have been in all decisions in this pandemic”.