Yesterday at 4pm the Prime Minister announced that London, including Waltham Forest, and parts of Kent and Essex will now be in Tier 4 of Covid-19 restrictions. This became effective as of 00.01 today.

The following restrictions now apply to Waltham Forest residents:

• No mixing at Christmas with any other households
• Residents must stay at home, apart from essential reasons
• Non-essential retails, gyms and leisure facilities, and personal care services close
• Residents should not leave Tier 4 areas, or stay overnight away from home
• Residents can only meet one person from another household in public outdoor spaces
• Support bubbles remain in place

I know this will extremely disappointing for many people in the borough who will no longer be able to spend Christmas with loved ones from a different household. I can’t emphasis enough how high Covid rates are across north east London and the strain on health services is growing all the time. We all have a role to play and we must not underestimate how bad things could get if we allow the spread of the virus to continue to rise by irresponsible behaviour.

Over 1700 people in Waltham Forest tested positive in the last seven days alone and the data shows that the virus is active and spreading in all corners, communities and age groups. We can and will have large Christmas and New Year celebrations again, just not this year.

Our Community Help Network will be making check-in calls this week to our most vulnerable residents to ensure they have all they need over the festive period. Now more than ever we need to think of others and do all we can to protect them against the virus.

Merry Christmas and Stay Safe