Portsmouth in tier four: City council leader sends letter to Boris Johnson after new coronavirus restrictions introduced

Portsmouth City Council leader, Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson has written to Boris Johnson to ask for ‘clear leadership’ after the city, as well as Havant and Gosport, were moved into tier four at the weekend amid concerns of a new covid variant.

In a letter to the prime minister, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson wrote: ‘On Thursday last week, Portsmouth and some of the surrounding area was moved up from Tier 2 to Tier 3.

‘Two days later, the government announced that we would be moving up to Tier 4. This was very hard for people who will now have all their plans for Christmas ruined and many people will be left alone and lonely at Christmas.

‘This decision was made without any consultation with Portsmouth City Council, and no evidence has been given to us about what the infection areas are for the new version of the virus.

‘We would like to know what additional support there will be for businesses forced to close on the busiest week of their year. Shops, restaurants and bars will all have banked on a bumper week to get them through the lean months of January and February.

‘The Kings Theatre in Southsea was brave enough to put on a pantomime, but this has now been cancelled. What support can you offer these businesses to stop then going bust?

‘People in Portsmouth will obey the new restrictions to make sure that they are able to keep the virus at bay, but people need to know that the government is in control of the situation, and it appears that you are not. We can no longer cope with this level of chaos in government.

‘A national crisis calls for cool heads and clear leadership, none of which is evident at the moment.’

It comes after Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan also called on the government today to urgently provide data about the threat posed to Portsmouth by the new variant of coronavirus, and to undertake more sophisticated testing to track its spread within the community.

He said: ‘Time is of the essence, so I am today urging the government to share data and improve testing to make sure we can quickly understand the scale of the challenge we now face, protect ourselves and our NHS. We cannot be caught on the backfoot again.

SEE ALSO: Portsmouth traders 'fuming' over sudden Tier 4 announcement coming after thousands of pounds spent on Christmas stock

‘The new variant appears to spread the infection at a much faster rate than the original strain, posing renewed risk to our city and threatening to overwhelm local health services.’

It comes after pressures at Queen Alexandra Hospital have been increasing in the last few weeks. Medical director Dr John Knighton said that staff had been working extra shift and longer hours to cope with the demand.

Latest NHS England figures show that Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust was caring for 223 coronavirus patients in hospital as of December 15, up from 149 on the same day the previous week.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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