Breaking News: Weston to remain in Tier 3 as schools returning becomes uncertain

Weston-super-Mare is to remain in Tier 3 as covid cases rocket across the country.

The decision comes after professor Andrew Hayward, a government scientific adviser, warned that urgent national action was needed to prevent a “catastrophe” in January as he said the coronavirus pandemic had entered a “new dangerous phase”.

Experts on the Independent Sage group – set up to shadow the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, also urged Boris Johnson in recent days to order an immediate national lockdown, as the UK recorded more than 53,000 new infections on Tuesday.

The decision came after it emerged today that the UK’s independent medicines regulator has approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, enabling the government to ramp up mass immunisations, bringing more hope that the worst of the pandemic may be over within months.

It is uncertain whether or not schools and colleges will reopen as the strain of the virus has shown to be be more contagious that the previous one amongst school age children.