Today I asked the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, about the need for the national lockdown in areas where the incidence of Covid-19 has been very low.
As you know, I have been very concerned about the impact of a national lockdown on North Norfolk, especially given our very low incidence of cases. I have always called to resist a further lockdown and instead use balanced and proportionate local measures. However, the most recently available data shows that across the county as a whole, the number of cases is doubling every fortnight with the expectation that this will only increase - and the number of hospital admissions at the Norfolk & Norwich (upon which we rely here) has increased tenfold during October.
The lockdown has therefore, unfortunately, become necessary - in order to ensure the NHS is able to continue providing the care needed to those who require hospitalisation because of Covid-19. This is an instance where we need to play our part here in North Norfolk in order to help protect the NHS, and its staff, in the wider county of Norfolk.
A number of constituents have been in touch with me about specific areas of concern for their particular sectors/parts of the community, and I'm continuing to talk about these with Ministers prior to the Wednesday Commons vote. I have also, along with other Norfolk MPs, asked for a full briefing from Norfolk's Clinical Commissioning Group, so that we can fully understand their concerns and needs over the next month.
