Derbyshire MP issues update on how Chesterfield and other areas could be released from Tier 2 lockdown

There is no set formula for areas moving between the alert levels in the Government’s new three-tier lockdown system, under which both areas were escalated to the middle ‘high’ alert category prohibiting households from mixing indoors.

With the weekly coronavirus infection rate for Chesterfield standing at 131.5 new cases per 100,000 people on the morning of Monday, October 19, and showing no sign of a sustained downward trend, the alert level is unlikely to be lowered any time soon.

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But Lee Rowley, the Conservative MP for North East Derbyshire, has indicated what needs to change before Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire could be recategorised as Tier 1 areas.

In a Facebook Q&A at the weekend, he told constituents: “I had a conversation with the minister for health on Thursday about this.

“In the same way that it was a basket of things that caused us to go up a tier, it will be a basket of indicators that cause us to go down a tier.

“The rough explanation of it is that it’s the raw number of positive tests, which are an indicator of the actual number of cases; the trendline on those positive tests, ie how quickly they’re going up or coming down; it is the number of people in tests who are testing positive, because the higher the proportion of people testing positive when they go for a test means there’s a bigger challenge; and then also it takes into account the regional geography.

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“I’m speaking to the Government about this, and that’s been one of my focuses this week but the statement they told me is that there needs to be a sustained decline in the number of positive tests in our area over a good period of time.

"I will get more information this week and I’m happy to talk about it next week but if you think about those four things as being indicators of why we went up, if we can get those four indicators turned round I think we will be able to start making a case to come down again.”

Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire were initially in the Tier 1 ‘medium’ alert level but health secretary Matt Hancock last Thursday announced they would be moving up to Tier 2 as of that Saturday.

The list of Tier 2 areas will be reviewed at least fortnightly, with the measures in place for those categories being re-examined at least once every 28 days.

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As well as the factors Mr Rowley mentioned, it has previously been suggested that local hospital capacity and the proportion of positive tests among over-60s, who are more vulnerable, could be taken into account when deciding into which tier an area should be placed.

As of Monday morning, only Liverpool and Lancashire were in Tier 3, though talks were ongoing about adding Manchester to that list.