Nottinghamshire confirmed for ‘Tier 3 PLUS’ from Friday with 9pm booze curfew, salons shut & shisha ban

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NOTTINGHAMSHIRE will be plunged into a ‘TIER 3 plus’ lockdown on Friday – with extra new rules including shutting beauty salons, a 9pm booze curfew and even a ban on shisha.

The area will face the toughest lockdown in the country with a string of new closures and extra rules for 800,000 people.

The whole of Nottinghamshire will have Tier 3 plus rules from Friday

It comes as hospitals in the area have been forced to cancel operations and infection rates across the region are spiralling out of control.

The Tier 3 lockdown will apply to Nottingham, Broxtowe, Gedling, and Rushcliffe, Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Mansfield and Newark and Sherwood, meaning a total of 828,000 people will have tougher restrictions.

That brings the number of people under extra rules in England to 8.3milion by the weekend.

The area will face even tougher rules than Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire and South Yorkshire.

Drinkers will face a 9pm curfew buying alcohol in shops, but will be allowed to carry on in pubs until 10 – as long as they are having a substantial meal.

All hospitality will have to serve “substantial meals” or will be told to close down and do take-away and delivery only.

Shisha sharing will be banned in cafes, and – close contact services like tattoo parlours, tanning and nail salons and piercing services.

Hairdressers and leisure centres can remain open, but group classes will be discouraged.

Betting shops, car boot sales and auction houses must close too.

The leader of Ashfield district council, Jason Zadrozny described the extra rules as a “tier 3 plus” with extra closures on top of what is in place across the rest of the country.

He told the Guardian: “We’re effectively in tier 3 plus. The additions for us in Nottinghamshire on top of tier 3 are personal care things – sunbeds, nail parlours, beauty salons, tattoo parlours – on the recommendation of Public Health England because they think tier 3 wasn’t enough to dampen the curve across Nottinghamshire.”

But the Government dismissed talk of an official “tier three plus” and said the current three levels of risk was being used,

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “We have seen infection rates rising sharply across Nottinghamshire, and in close collaboration with local leaders we have agreed on a package of local measures to stop this virus in its tracks.

“I understand how difficult life is under these restrictions and the impact they have on families and businesses, but we never take these decisions lightly.”

The new rules will be slapped on Robert Jenrick’s constituency from Friday.

The communities secretary said tonight: “The weeks ahead will be challenging for all in Nottinghamshire. We need to look out for one another and get through it together.”

Ben Bradley, the MP for Mansfield added: “I know it’s frustrating, but our figures locally have caught up with areas around the city over the last 7 days.”

The deputy leader of Broxtowe Borough Council said the Government called local leaders to say it was having a “rethink” over Tier 3 agreements just 20 minutes after the authority published the terms on its website last night.

Councillor Steve Carr said the terms for a Tier 3 lockdown for Nottingham, Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe were withdrawn as infection rates across the country jumped.

Mr Carr said information on new restrictions was published at 7.30pm last night – but was forced to take it down 20 minutes later.

Nottingham hospital bosses have been forced to cancel some cancer surgeries because of “pressure on intensive care units”.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust medical director Keith Girling said the trust had taken the “extremely difficult decision” to delay four cancer operations this week.

TIER 1 PLUS

Meanwhile, Bristol is set to enter a ‘Tier 1 plus’ lockdown in the next few days – with extra enforcement of covid rules, more marshals on the streets and a targeted focus on driving down the virus among working age people.

Essentially, it means the city is going onto the coronavirus watch list, meaning cases are rising and it needs extra support.

However, it’s a label from the Bristol Mayor and the extra tier won’t be a national feature.

There are 340.7 coronavirus cases per 100,00 in Bristol and it’s still in Tier 1 which means the rule of six applies and 10pm curfew – but no other extra rules.

The Department of Health has said it is “not considering the introduction of a ‘plus’ system”.

A spokesperson said: “There are three local Covid alert levels which are enshrined in law and we are not considering the introduction of a ‘plus’ system.

“Bristol is currently at medium and local leaders have the authority to bring in some additional measures for their area, and we welcome local efforts to break chains of transmission.”

At the moment England has three tiers – but Scotland is due to have five.

Talks on putting West Yorkshire into Tier 3 are also ongoing.

It comes as Government scientists have warned the death toll could be even greater in the second wave, and

And Sage scientists have warned that by Christmas, virus rates all over the country will soar and the whole country could be thrown into lockdown.