Row over regional coronavirus rules 'damaging to public health’, leading scientist warns

The row over England's three-tier regional coronavirus restrictions is "very damaging to public health", a leading scientist advising the government has warned.

Talks between local leaders and Westminster over moving Greater Manchester and Lancashire to toughest tier of rules are due to resume later on Friday.

Prof Jeremy Farrar said making it a north-south or party political issue was "a very dangerous route to go on".

Speaking to the BBC's Newscast podcast, Prof Farrar said the tightest restrictions currently in place were not enough.

He warned the longer the Government left employing more stringent restrictions, the greater the potential pressure on the NHS.

"I think we've got to come together as a country, this fragmentation, and frankly making this either a north-south or a party political issue, that's a very dangerous route to go on," he said.

"If you look at the countries that have controlled this well to date - Germany, China, Singapore, Vietnam, Korea, New Zealand - they've had a national consensus about the way forward.

"What we don't want now is a fragmentation or confusion - one area or region or city pitched against another.

"I think that would be very, very damaging to public health and the country's ability to respond."

He added that the UK was "in the worst of all worlds" and said a so-called "circuit-breaker lockdown" should have been put in place in September.

"The base restrictions are not going to be enough to turn the epidemic around and prevent the hospitalisations, and they're also going to damage the economy," he said.

"The longer you leave it, the epidemic will spiral out of control.

"The earlier you act, the bigger impact you will have. And the longer you leave it, or you are indecisive or put off decisions then ultimately the harder you will have to act."

"This isn't a north-south divide, it's not a devolved nations versus England sense, everybody's doing this."