Berkshire to move into Tier 3 on Saturday
It's been announced the county will be under the strictest guidelines after a two week review
All of Berkshire will move up to Tier 3 after a rise in coronavirus case numbers.
The government has announced that the entire county will be under the strictest rules from Saturday, joining Slough which has been in Tier 3 since the end of lockdown.
Our neighbours in Buckinghamshire will also move into Tier 3.
Councillor Jason Brock, Reading Borough Council Leader, said:
“The Government’s decision to place Reading into Tier 3 restrictions from 00:01 on Saturday 19th December will inevitably cause further hardship and anxiety in what has already been a very difficult year for residents and businesses in Reading.
"The combination of a rise in the infection rate across London and other parts of the South East means it is not necessarily unexpected, although as a Council we had no prior warning of today’s announcement.
"We know our local increasing infection rates across all age groups is due to household transmissions.
"Our rate of infection over the last 7 days is 221.9 per 100,000 people which is the highest it has been during this second wave of COVID-19.
"The size of the pandemic in Reading is increasing by between 33% and 50% every week and now of everyone who goes for a test, 6.1% get a positive result, whereas in August this was just 1%.
"It is now more important than ever we all stick to the guidelines in what is a critical time in the run up to possibly visiting elderly or vulnerable family when restrictions are currently planned to be temporarily lifted for five days over the Christmas period."