The following information has been provided by Central Bedfordshire Council
The Government have announced today that Bedford, Luton, Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes will be moving into tier three levels of restriction – the highest level – from Saturday 19 December.
The covid cases in Central Bedfordshire have been increasing since the beginning of December and the data for week ending 13 December is showing a 77% increase in cases (see the attached weekly covid report for the full details). We also know that Milton Keynes have been reporting increasingly high number of cases for the past few months and that Luton are continuing to face high numbers of covid cases in their area.
All these authorities and other neighbouring authority areas (including Buckinghamshire and all of Hertfordshire) will be moving into tier three restrictions, as have London and parts of Hertfordshire and Essex earlier this week. So, whilst the news for Central Bedfordshire is that we are part of a wider national trend with southern areas we need to take action here and to do so urgently.
At the time of writing this briefing, tier three restrictions include:
- No mixing of households (apart from support bubbles) indoors or in private gardens. People can meet friends or family they do not live with in some outdoor spaces (parks, public spaces etc.) but only up to six people.
- All hospitality will close, with the exception of delivery, take-away or drive throughs
- Hotels will close and overnight stays with anyone other than your support bubble are unadvisable
- Indoor entertainment venues will close
- Leisure centres can stay open, but group activities and classes should not take place
- Currently the restrictions advise people to avoid travelling outside of their area if they can.
You can read the full details of the current restrictions for tier three on the Government website but
Tier three areas will get extra funding – as well as more virus testing to help control infections.
We will be communicating this information to our residents and urging everyone to continue to play their part in controlling the virus to protect everyone in our communities.
COVID-19 Tier Posters 16 December 2020 Very High