Star date: 16th December 2020

BURNHAM AND LEESE CALL FOR GM TO BE PUT IN TIER 2

At this afternoon's Greater Manchester Leaders press conference, both Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, and GM Health Lead, Richard Leese, called for the Government to put all or a "large chunk" of the region into Tier 2 restrictions...

"If you look at the figures and what is happening in our hospitals, the logic of that would suggest that Greater Manchester should be moved to Tier 2" said Leese, while Burnham called on the Government to "make an evidence based decision".

Full details here...

Greater Manchester Leaders called for the Government to either move the whole of Greater Manchester, or a "large chunk", out of Tier 3 restrictions and into Tier 2 at this afternoon's press conference.

"If you look at the figures and what is happening in our hospitals, the logic of that would suggest that Greater Manchester should be moved to Tier 2" said GM Health Lead Richard Leese "Even if the entirety isn't moved to Tier 2, a large chunk of Greater Manchester should be moved to Tier 2."

His sentiments were echoed by Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, who added "What we're saying to the Government is please take an evidence based decision and allow as much of the GM economy to open as possible."

The pair produced a whole battery of slides and statistics backing up their case, based on virus rates, hospital pressures and comparisons with other regions which entered Tier 2 two weeks ago...

Despite lateral flow tests now being added to the stats, leading to a 2% increase in cases – which also accounts for the increases in Salford – Leese explained that the overall trend in Greater Manchester is downwards.

Most boroughs are now below the national average of virus case rates, which currently stands at 188.6, with the Greater Manchester average at 154.8. London was put into Tier 2 at the last tiering decision with a rate of 187 and Liverpool at 185.

Government indicators also include case rates in the over 60s, which currently stands at 133 in Greater Manchester, compared to 143 in London and 159 in Liverpool at the time of the last tiering decision, while the virus positivity rate for Greater Manchester now stands at 7%, compared to 9% when London entered Tier 2 and 3% for Liverpool.

Greater Manchester's infection rate has currently fallen by 4% over the last week, compared to 1% for London and 31% for Liverpool at the last tiering decision. If the last two weeks are taken into consideration, Greater Manchester infections have fallen by 20%, compared to the England average which has risen by 23%.

Pressure on Greater Manchester hospitals is also reducing, with weekly admissions down from 58 on 7th December to 51 on 14th December, although in-patient diagnoses have risen from 360 to 439.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has also fallen from 107 on 8th December to 89 on 15th December, while the number of COVID-19 patients has remained almost stable, 765 to 766, during this period. Richard Leese pointed out that there are now more non-COVID-19 patients in intensive care than COVID-19 patients... "We are not under the same pressure that we were a month ago" he said.

"There is a real concern that because of London and the South East, we've seen that quite often Government decisions have been distorted" he explained "Greater Manchester and the North have suffered as a consequence, and we're very much hoping that's not going to happen when the announcement is made and that we will be treated fairly on the numbers."

Andy Burnham said that "the evidence is pretty good from our point of view; progress has clearly been made over the last couple of weeks and Greater Manchester is in a stronger position as a whole compared to London and Liverpool...

"...but the context has changed a little with the rise in cases in other parts of the country and the debate about Christmas" he added "Obviously the Government might want to err on the side of caution, so what I would say is that if the Government does not want to put Greater Manchester as a whole in Tier 2, particularly give the fact that a couple of our boroughs [Bury and Rochdale] are above national average or close to it, we do still believe that there is a very strong case for a substantial part of the city region to be placed in Tier 2.

"We would ask the Government to give regard to the fact that we have been under restrictions now for four and a half months, and given that the review in late December is unlikely to be a major review, it would mean businesses still shut to the middle of January" he said "And given our cases are where they are we would say that would be to damage our economy unnecessarily, and we do ask the Government to consider carefully those arguments before making their decision..."

Burnham argued that by closing regulated hospitality businesses in Tier 3 there is a risk of more gatherings in the home over the New Year period "and that might risk even greater spread of the virus, and that has to be taken into account in any decisions that are being made..."

Richard Leese concluded that "Greater Manchester is moving in the right direction...the data says that if it's consistent with decisions made two weeks ago it would be very reasonable for the entirety of Greater Manchester to be in Tier 2..."