Last Friday, MPs and council leaders in Essex were shown Covid-19 data for the county which, according to those present, warned of an exponential rise in cases for the weeks ahead. Action was needed, they were told by Dr Mike Gogarty, director of public health and wellbeing at Essex County Council.

The number of cases in Essex has risen from just over 700 in the week to 2 October to just over 1,000 in the week to 9 October. On Tuesday, the council formally asked the government to raise Essex's status in the three-tier alert system from Medium (lowest tier) to High (middle tier), thereby asking for tighter social restrictions on its 1.4 million inhabitants.

David Finch, leader at the Conservative-controlled council, said: "By acting now, we can hope to stem this increase, limiting the time that we are in these enhanced restrictions and - above all - avoiding further escalation into Very High. All of this will limit the damage to the economy. A healthy economy is critical to everyone having better lives in future. We already have one of the best track and trace operations in the country, but we will also be aiming to push its performance still higher alongside strengthening enforcement capacity and visibility. Making these painful decisions now will, we hope, bring dividends later."

Neil Stock, Conservative leader at Tendring District Council, which includes Clacton, Harwich and Manningtree, said: "I don't think lockdowns work. We shut the entire country down back in March to protect the NHS. We built new hospitals which were not used and in the meantime we've been destroying people's livelihoods, the suicide rate has gone up through the roof, we've got people not having cancer referrals, we heard last week that a million people have not had breast cancer screenings because of the lockdown. This is not a credible way of running the country and we've got to have a better way of dealing with Covid. It is out there and it is bad and you don't want to get it, but we need a different approach to it. We've got to learn to live with it. We can't keep shutting the country down. If we go into the higher tier what will happen when we come out of it? I think we'll just go back into it again. Tendring has the highest number in the country at the moment. A few weeks ago it had the lowest. The number is going to go up and it is going to go down. We cannot simply keep locking down forever and forever."

If everyone would use their common sense while the virus is active ie avoid contact with other human beings whenever possible and if you must have contact take hygienic precautions, there would be no need for the Government to take additional measures .

Yes, that would be ideal, but sadly people, specially the younger ones, though not exclusively, don't think it applies to them. You see it everywhere, in the supermarkets, at car boots, fairs or just walking down a street. They don't see why they should make more room when they pass you or keep their distance when looking at items either. I do the avoiding & back away if they get too close. Feel like I should be carrying a crucifix & waving it at them & I aint religious

Exactly ..... I call it "Dancing With Morons" .....

Government newspaper adverts explaining the coronavirus tiers in at least two places were wrong, it has emerged.

The ads were in Bradford's Telegraph and Argus and the Hexham Courant this week. Both said the current alert level was medium, when it is in fact high.

Bradford South Labour MP Judith Cummins said it was "more staggering incompetence from a government that is losing its grip on this pandemic".