New local restrictions from Wednesday 2nd December
The Government has placed Wokingham Borough in Tier 2 (High). This means there are some restrictions to what we can and cannot do, including:
- We cannot meet people from outside our household indoors, and must stick to the rule of 6 outdoors
- Pubs and bars can only serve alcohol with substantial meals and must close by 11pm (with last orders at 10pm)
- Retail, entertainment, indoor leisure and personal care settings can open
- Avoid travel to Tier 3 areas
We must also continue to follow social distancing guidance around washing our hands, covering our face, making space, self-isolating when we are asked to and getting tested when we have symptoms. For the full breakdown of what you can and cannot do in each tier, please visit the Gov.uk website.
Decisions on tiers are made by central government and are informed by several factors. These include, but are not limited to:
- Case detection rate in all age groups, and in those amongst over-60s
- How quickly case rates are rising or falling
- Positivity rate (the proportion of people testing positive) in the general population
- Pressure on the NHS - including current and projected NHS capacity
The system will be reviewed every 14 days, with the first review scheduled for 16 December.
There is no guarantee that any area will change tiers at this time and there are no specific thresholds between tiers which determine the level of restrictions; all the factors listed above are taken into consideration.
To help slow the spread of the virus in our communities it’s extremely important that we continue to adhere to the rules that have been set out whichever tier we are in at any given time.