Newcastle on edge as England ushers in ‘freedom day’

In January last year, nurse Fiona Cook was on shift as the UK’s first two coronavirus patients were admitted to Newcastle upon Tyne’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. Sixteen months on, she watches people trickling into the Covid-19 vaccine clinic at the Centre for Life science village in the heart of the city. “We’re in the final stretch, hopefully,” said Cook.

But as the north-east of England — along with the rest of the UK — nervously awaits the end of almost all public health restrictions on Monday, the region is being battered by skyrocketing cases, among the highest infection rates in Europe.

Local public health officials and politicians are apprehensive as England prepares to drop the mask mandate and social distancing rules, despite cases in the region surging to almost double the number at the height of the second wave. The rise is being driven by younger, unvaccinated groups.

The chaos at the heart of Downing Street over Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s need to self isolate having held meetings with Sajid Javid, the health secretary, who has tested positive for Covid, have added to the sense of uncertainty ahead of “freedom day”.

In the North East region, the signs are not promising with health staff asked to delay holidays in the face of ballooning Covid admissions.

“The trust is currently under extreme pressure due to a surge in Covid-19 cases,” said a note circulated to staff at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust last week.

Hospital admissions are at more than 600 a day in England. The area comprising the North East and Yorkshire has the highest number of daily Covid hospital admissions with 183 recorded on July 14.

“We need to get as many people jabbed as possible to halt the wave,” said Cook. “I’ve been up the street urging passers-by to come down to the clinic.”

The government continues to bank on its world-leading, albeit slowing, vaccination drive to limit the severity of the third wave, but ministers and scientific advisers have admitted infections and hospitalisations could rise sharply.

Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London and a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, told the BBC on Sunday daily case numbers could rise to 200,000 a day with 2,000 hospital admissions.

The country has one of the world’s highest Covid rates and many experts are warning that complete unlocking is irresponsible. But ministers are asking “If not now, when?” — arguing that summertime and the start of school holidays, combined with mass vaccination, make this the best time to lift restrictions.

“We will be in uncharted territory after July 19,” said Tom Hall, director of public health for South Tyneside, the worst-hit local authority in England.

“It could go in several directions — perhaps infections among young people have already topped out or there could be more growth to come.” Hall added he “would hate to see young people scorned” for the third wave, as demand for vaccines among under-30s appears to be slowing.

At a minute past midnight on Monday, Newcastle nightclub Digital, next door to the Centre for Life, will throw open its doors to 2,100 punters for the first time in a year and a half. “We are going to get a honeymoon burst but it could all sour very quickly,” said owner Aaron Mellor, who runs six other clubs in Newcastle and dozens more across the country. “We are in a no-win situation. Covid cases will go up and nightclubs will be blamed and labelled superspreaders, even if that’s not the case.”

Mellor said Covid passports had “left a big question mark” over so-called freedom day on Monday.

The logistics and cost of enforcing the passport rule and the last-minute decision by the government to recommend their use has made planning for the lifting of restrictions more difficult, according to Mellor. “It feels like we have been running a marathon and the finish line has been extended by five miles.”

Businesses also face huge disruption from a jump in staff being asked to self-isolate by the NHS Covid app, with half a million alerts sent out to people in England in the past week alone.

David King, who runs the City Tavern pub in Newcastle city centre, told the Financial Times there were “storm clouds on the horizon” as more bartenders test positive and others are told to self-isolate.

“Most of the offices nearby are still operating one day a week . . . and that isn’t likely to change on Monday,” said King, who forecasts demand may slow after Monday rather than increase.

The daily footfall at the Centre for Life vaccine clinic has fallen from about 1,500 people a day to just 400, but younger people continue to come forward to get vaccinated. Ciaran Balletta, a 23-year-old barista who works in the city centre, said he decided to get jabbed so he could visit his family in California. “There’s a 50:50 split among my friends so it took me a while to resolve that scepticism,” said Balletta.

Alan Mathew, a 20-year-old Cambridge university student who returned to Newcastle for the summer holidays, said he would “still be cautious” despite receiving his first dose of the Pfizer jab. “I’m not planning to be around loads of people indoors . . . I’m taking advantage of the change in rules but in a safe way,” he added.

Jamie Driscoll, mayor of the North of Tyne combined authority, has joined forces with several other elected mayors to call on the government, as well as rail and bus operators, to retain mandatory mask wearing on public transport.

“Freedom for some means fear for others,” said Driscoll. “Businesses can still function but we need to do everything we can to minimise the spread of the disease, to lower the possibility of variants emerging while the vaccine programme continues.”

Audrey Murray, 88, said she and her husband, who were on a shopping trip to the city centre, were “going to stay at home ‘till everything’s blown over”. “We don’t go out very much and when we do we have the masks,” she said.

With more than nine in 10 over-fifties in England fully vaccinated, the government hopes that the high level of vaccine coverage will mean hospital wards and intensive care units are not overwhelmed.

However, George Rae, chair of the British Medical Association for the North East, said Covid wards had already been reopened and more beds would be needed in the coming weeks.

“There is no doubt that any uptick in hospital admissions will have a very real effect on the service the NHS provides for non-Covid patients,” said Rae. “But the question is how much disruption can we bear.”

Additional reporting by Clive Cookson in London