'Harborough could go down to Tier 2 if the rate of Covid infection drops over Christmas' says Health Secretary Matt Hancock

Health Secretary Matt Hancock today vowed that Harborough will be lifted out of Tier 3 and put into Tier 2 if the rate of Covid-19 infection drops over Christmas and the New Year.

The Minister made his pledge in the House of Commons as he answered a question from Harborough MP Neil O’Brien.

Mr Hancock spoke after Neil asked him if could confirm that Harborough along with other districts in Leicestershire had been treated separately and on their own merits.

The Health Secretary said they had been – but unfortunately the current coronavirus rate in Harborough is still too high to justify moving it out of Tier 3.

Mr Hancock also saluted the health services in Leicestershire for the work they are doing and for starting to roll out the new life-saving Pfizer vaccine to patients.

He also paid tribute to the people of the county for their work combatting the illness as he admitted it had been a “long hard slog” with tough measures and restrictions that had been in place a long time.

This afternoon MP Neil told the Harborough Mail: “Given the terrible national picture on Covid and the picture locally I’m not surprised that we are staying in Tier 3 here in Harborough.

“We were really having had to go some to get out and it’s just not happened.

“We have made progress.

“But we are still above the national average on one or two of the five tests the Government uses to determine which tier we should be in.

“One of those factors is the coronavirus rate among the over-60s – which is slightly higher in Harborough than nationally.”

He added: “The number of patients with the virus in hospitals in Leicester is about the same as it was in the spring.

“The trouble is that patients give it to others in hospital because it’s so highly infectious and the rate goes up.

“We clearly need to keep on top of this over Christmas and the New Year.

“We simply cannot afford to ease up.

“But the vaccine is being rolled out, there is definite light at the end of this tunnel and I’m confident we can climb out of Tier 3 if we continue to go on making progress.”