Where could ESCAPE Tier Three? Urban-rural splits loom for divided counties as Tory MPs demand local approach in Kent and Leicestershire as England awaits verdict of local lockdown review

Counties could be split by new local lockdown tiers today as MPs call for rural wards to be given looser rules than towns and cities being hit harder by Covid-19 as Government data shows infection rates are dividing communities in Kent, Leicestershire and Lancashire.

Health chiefs will meet today to review the restrictions for the run-up to Christmas and are expected to be heavy-handed. Cases are rising again nationally and the effects of November's lockdown have all but worn off in parts of the country, with more than 34million people now living under Tier Three rules.

But MPs from across the country have called for their rural residents to be cut some slack from draconian policies, with people living in 'zero Covid' villages lumped under rules triggered by outbreaks in nearby towns or cities.

Kent MP Tom Tugendhat is advocating for the county to be split into sections so people living in the countryside in his constituency can have more freedom. Kent is in Tier Three because Medway and Swale have some of England's highest rates — but Department of Health figures show case numbers are rising even in smaller areas, proving that outbreaks can leak out into smaller communities.

In Lancashire and Leicestershire there are calls for some areas to be released from the toughest restrictions, with millions having been forced to live under strict curbs for months on end.

And data shows that counties in the South East – England's new hotspot – are divided, with cases high and rising in the towns but much lower in the greener areas around them, with splits potentially on the cards for East and West Sussex.

Greater Manchester's mayor Andy Burnham said the city has a 'good case' for being pulled out of Tier Three, having been under the tightest restrictions since October, although rates remain high in some districts.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock this week admitted the Joint Biosecurity Centre would consider splitting areas in pursuit of fairness, and Essex and Hertfordshire have today seen parts of the counties put into Tier Three with others kept out.

Broad brush tactics have been repeatedly criticised and the Government now appears to be aiming for a more refined approach to target only the worst-hit areas.

It comes as ministers today made clear that Christmas bubbles will not be scrapped in England — despite urging families to wait until Easter to meet up. Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick insisted there will be no change to the legal rules underpinning the five-day festive easing south of the border, saying the government should not 'tell people how to come to a decision'.

The official infection map of Kent shows that some areas in the north of the county, such as Medway and Swale, have some of the highest Covid rates in the country (darker colour shows higher numbers of coronavirus cases), while areas in the south are less badly affected

Revealed: England's REAL Covid hotspots

Part of an island off the coast of Kent is currently suffering England's worst Covid-19 outbreak, according to official figures.

Sheppey East — in the Tier Three borough of Swale — had an infection rate of 1,652 cases for every 100,000 people during the most recent week.

For comparison, the Department of Health says the overall figure for England in the same seven-day spell ending December 10 was just 184.

Six other wards across the nation had an infection rate above 1,000 over the same week, including two in Basildon — which entered Tier Three today.

Haltwhistle and Bardon Mill in Northumberland had the second biggest outbreak in the most recent week, with 1,138 cases for every 100,000 people.

The data only includes positive tests and is broken down into Middle Super Output Area, which are smaller wards within authorities and home to around 7,000 people.

A weekly infection rate of 1,000 cases per 100,000 people means 1 per cent of the area's population caught the disease in seven-days.

District name

Local authority

Positive Covid tests per 100,000 people (week to December 10)

Sheppey East

Haltwhistle & Bardon Mill

Wickford Shotgate

Stoke Heath, Finstall & Bentley

Rochester South West

Stafford North East

Laindon East & Lee Chapel North

Hedingham, Gosfield & Greenstead Green

Cathedral & West Common

Kirkhams & Holyrood

Swale

Northumberland

Basildon

Bromsgrove

Medway

Stafford

Basildon

Braintree

Lincoln

Bury

1,652

1,138

1,079.6

1,065

1,064.9

1,055.5

1,050.1

987.3

971.7

957.9

Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Melton, has pushed for her constituency to be 'de-coupled' from Leicester city, along with other areas, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock yesterday confirmed they would be considered in isolation.

Ms Kearns said in a tweet yesterday: 'I’m grateful & relieved that @MattHancock today confirmed to me in the House of Commons that Leicestershire will be tiered separately to Leicester after weeks of concerted lobbying by myself & colleagues That doesn’t mean auto leave tier 3 as still have much work to do locally.'

She added: 'If we remained tied to Leicester City, even if our rates plummeted we’d have to remain in the same tier as them. That won’t happen anymore thanks to my lobbying.'

Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, wrote: 'Matt Hancock just confirmed in the HoC the assurance he gave me at the weekend. Leicester and Leicestershire will be looked at separately. We are being decoupled from Leicester and should be in Tier 2 soon if infection rates remain low. Result'.

Department of Health data shows that infection rates vary across Leicestershire, with the highest numbers of cases in the city itself (256 per 100,000), Oadby and Wigston (256), Melton (225) – part of Ms Kearns's constituency – and Blaby (218).

More rural parts of the county, however, have much lower rates of infection but face the same lockdown rules.

In Mr Bridgen's constituency of North West Leicestershire, for example, the infection rate in the week to December 10 was half that of Leicester city, at 126, and it was up only seven per cent on a week earlier.

And in Charnwood the rate was 124 and falling, while it was 133 in Rutland – also in Ms Kearns's constituency.

Broad brush tactics sweeping rural areas up in county-wide lockdowns triggered by outbreaks in towns and cities have angered MPs regularly since the tiering system began.

In a move that may reassure local officials, Matt Hancock indicated in the Commons yesterday that the Government and Joint Biosecurity Centre would be willing to consider splitting counties to make rules fairer.

Speaking specifically about Leicestershire in response to Alicia Kearns's question – but hinting at a precedent that could be used across the country – Mr Hancock said: 'I would say to residents in Melton and Rutland that we will look at Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland separately when we make the decision on tiering on Wednesday.

'Those in Rutland who are in Tier Two still need to work at it and do their bit to try to keep Rutland in Tier Two, and, of course, hopefully get to Tier One. It is so important that everybody does their bit.'

County splits have come into force today, as parts of Essex and Hertfordshire have entered Tier Three rules, along with the entire of Greater London.

Tier Three rules have been brought in in 11 areas of Essex including Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow and Chelmsford – while other parts of the county remain in Tier Two – and in four places in Hertfordshire; Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Watford and Three Rivers.

There are hopes that the precedent set in those areas will be applied to some in Lancashire, where infection rates range from 299 cases per 100,000 people in Burnley and 243 in Blackburn with Darwen, to just 108 in Fylde and 125 in Lancaster.

Nigel Evans, the MP for Ribble Valley where there were 129 cases in the most recent week (rate 212), told the BBC: 'I hope that Lancashire is split with those areas with lower rates of infection, including the Ribble Valley, being moved into Tier Two and those with Covid rates remaining in Tier Three.'

Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, said he was hopeful the city could be released from the toughest rules but was not certain the Government would be willing.

He said on Radio 4 today: 'We are below London and below Liverpool when they went into Tier Two originally.

'I accept the national mood has changed since those decisions were taken and I can also understand if the Government were wanting to err on the side of caution.

'There is a clear case for Greater Manchester, or a large part of Greater Manchester, to be placed in Tier Two.'

Infection rates are not the only measure officials look at when deciding on whether to push places up through the tiers, and these places may have been included because they are closely connected to London, where the entire city is in lockdown.

The rate of increase is also a key measure and, according to Public Health England's latest data – for the week ending December 6 – cases are on the up in at least 62 out of 149 local authorities.

What are the Tier 3 rules?

At least 33 areas saw rises of more than 20 per cent in that week in the number of cases per person meaning that, if the situation has not improved, many more places could be staring down the barrel of Tier Three tomorrow.

East and West Sussex and Surrey are good examples of where cases are divided between towns and the countryside.

In Surrey, relatively high rates of infection can be seen in towns such as Woking and Addlestone, where the districts Sheerwater and Addlestone South have rates equal to 518 cases per 100,000 people and 425, respectively.

But rates are much lower in less populated rural parts of the county, such as in Horsley and Effingham (39 per 100,000) and Dorking South (41).

In East and West Sussex, Department of Health data showed that, in the week between December 2 and December 9, Hastings in East Sussex had the fastest increase in cases of anywhere in England.

Cases there more than tripled from 114 per 100,000 to 372.

Two boroughs of neighbouring West Sussex, Crawley and Worthing, were also among the top five authorities in the country during that week.

Infections more than doubled in both areas, rising from 42 per 100,000 to 102 in Crawley and 25 to 59 in Worthing.

But data shows the counties' epidemics are being driven by a select few hotspot areas, with more than a dozen rural villages and towns recording fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 population.

The MP for Hastings and Rye, Sally-Ann Hart, warned last week that East Sussex was 'on the brink' of being plunged into the toughest curbs in England.

'I am very concerned by the sharp and sustained rise in Covid-19 cases across Hastings and Rother,' she told the Worthing Herald.

'Having spoken to the local director of public health, there is now a real anxiety that we could see a prolonged period of high infection rates as seen in North Kent. If this is the case, then our area is now teetering towards Tier Three restrictions in the coming weeks.'

The fastest spike in Covid-19 infections in England was recorded in three areas of the historic county - Hastings, Crawley and Worthing - among those under Tier Two in the seven-day spell to December 9, according to the latest figures published by the Department of Health

Sickening moment maskless 'Karen' COUGHS in the face of grocery store customer, then claims she doesn't have to wear a mask because she 'isn't sick'

A woman was captured on camera following a customer through a supermarket as she coughs on her after claiming she does not need a mask because she is not sick. Video of the incident, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on Twitter alone, allegedly took place in a Su per Saver in Lincoln, Nebraska according to Twitter user @davenewworld_2. In it, an unidentified woman was captured dramatically coughing as she smiles saying 'Excuse me! I'm coming through' in the direction of the customer recording her. Scroll down for video An unidentified woman was captured dramatically coughing as she smiles saying 'Excuse me! I'm coming through' in the direction of a woman recording her A woman was captured on camera following a customer as she coughs on her in a supermarket without a mask on claiming she does not need one because she is not sick @chaiteabugz #karen #covid #karens #karensgonewild #karensalert #masks we were just wearing a mask at the store. ¿ o

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