WAVERLEY: Higher Covid tier despite falling cases

Waverley’s council leader is disappointed to be placed into a higher tier after lockdown despite falling numbers of Covid cases.

The borough, which includes Godalming, Farnham and Haslemere, had the lowest rate of all Surrey boroughs last week.

It had 95.8 cases per 100,000 population in the seven days up to November 20, compared with the Surrey average of 134.6 per 100,000.

But health and social care secretary Matt Hancock has placed all Surrey boroughs into the same tier when lockdown ends on 2 December.

This is despite wide disparity in the rates, with the highest rate of 207.3 in Spelthorne - more than twice that of Waverley.

Waverley Borough Council leader John Ward thinks residents have worked hard to follow the rules and should have been rewarded, but instead "Surrey has been dragged down by the boroughs nearer London".

He said: "We expected to be in Tier 2 from the statements coming out of government, but we were in Tier 1 before lockdown and we’re disappointed not to go back into Tier 1.

"The Government is clearly taking a big is better view doing it on a county basis."

The number of cases in Surrey has fallen since the second lockdown began on 5 November, apart from a couple of spikes, one on 9 November and another a week later.

Mr Ward added: "Our rates are coming down so we think our population is really knuckling down and observing social distancing and hand washing and all the recommendations from on high, so we’re very pleased with the way our population has responded.

"I understand the difficulty, counties either side are in Tier 2 as well, but they didn’t want to give us just reward for being obedient which is a bit of a shame.

"We’re a bit unhappy about it but we do understand the reasoning."

He said he hoped the borough would be moved down a tier in the next revision in a fortnight’s time.

Surrey as a whole, and each of its individual boroughs, is lower than the England average of 218.6 as of last week.

Most Surrey boroughs were below the 161.6 South East average, except for Spelthorne, Runnymede and Epsom and Ewell.

Rates were calculated by the Surrey County Council public health data intelligence team, using the ONS 2019 mid-year population estimates.

Following Mr Hancock’s announcement today of tier 2 for Surrey, county council leader Tim Oliver said: "I know that this is not the news that some of us wanted to hear after four weeks of national restrictions, but I do want to thank all our residents for their patience and continued commitment in following the public health guidance - it has had an impact - and on the whole their actions have kept cases down across the county.

"The coming weeks and months will continue to be a challenge to us all, but we cannot be complacent and must continue to do all we can to reduce the spread of this virus."

Tier 2 means Surrey residents must not mix with people who do not live in their house (or are not in their support bubble) in any indoor setting.

The rule of six is back for outside, meaning a maximum of six people can meet up, including in private gardens and public spaces.

Surrey businesses can continue to operate in a Covid-secure way, but pubs and bars must close unless they are operating as restaurants and serving substantial meals.