Covid-19 Update

Emma Lewell-Buck Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Matt Hancock]

Yes, I am pretty sure that that has been done. If it has not, I will absolutely check and get back to my hon. Friend. If anybody who is clinically qualified comes forward, we are very enthusiastic to hear from them. NHS Professionals, the body that is responsible for extra staff in the NHS, is organising the distribution of those who want to come back into service in order to help to vaccinate, and we look forward to hearing from people.

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab) [V]]

My constituents will be gutted today. We are making sacrifices and our beautiful town’s economy is tanking. More so, the tiering system is not working. Areas that previously moved into tier 4 still have rising infection rates, so what evidence is the Secretary of State using that shows that moving South Shields from tier 3 into tier 4 will reduce the spread of the virus?

[Matt Hancock]

It is not easy moving from tier 3 to tier 4. I understand that, but the rates in South Shields are going up sharply. With the support of the council and, indeed, all the councils across the north-east, we have taken this action. The evidence base is that for those areas that have been in tier 4 the longest, we are starting to see a reduction in the rate of increase and in some places a fall, particularly in some parts of Kent, but there is still an awful lot more to do. This new variant, which we can now sadly see in the north-east of England—much in the way that it started in the south-east—spreads so much more easily. It is much harder to keep control of. The job of suppressing the virus has got harder with the new variant at the same time as the approval of the vaccines has made the job of getting out of this easier. That is the challenge we face.