We can't afford to lose confidence in the fight against Covid - Laura Collins, YEP Editor

It was only last week that we were digesting the news that West Yorkshire was set to enter more stringent restrictions in Tier 3 from today.

But fast forward 48 hours and we were being told that this is no longer an option – a full-scale lockdown of England is needed instead to stem the spread of the virus.

From Thursday, pubs, bars, restaurants and non-essential retail will close for four weeks across England, with furlough payments at 80 per cent extended for the duration of the new measures.

People will be allowed to exercise and socialise in public spaces outside with their household or one other person, but not indoors or in private gardens, and will be able to travel to work if they cannot work from home.

Yet unlike in the lockdown we experienced during the first wave of the pandemic, schools, colleges and nurseries will remain open.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I did have a cry – it’s really tough for all of us.

I can’t even remember the last time I saw my family and the thought of not being able to see them at Christmas has weighed heavily on my mind for the last few weeks.

We’ve been living under what feels like months on end of restrictions and, to be honest, there doesn’t look like an end in sight any time soon.

The reality is nobody knows what the ‘end game’ looks like and the messages around what we can and can’t do have been confusing as we navigate our way through a ‘new normal’.

The one glimmer of hope during Saturday’s announcement was that the planned restrictions will end on December 2 when the local tier system would resume.

But by yesterday morning, we had a Cabinet minister warn that the national lockdown could be extended beyond December 2 if the infection rates do not significantly fall.

The goalposts already seem to be moving as the dust still settles on Saturday’s announcement.

The nights are getting darker earlier, the weather is getting colder and it has already been a very challenging year.

There will be so many people who will be struggling over the weeks to come as we’re told to stay at home to protect the NHS.

Charities have warned about the long-term impact that this pandemic and the measures to reduce infections will have on the mental health of the nation. What we all really need during this time of uncertainty is some clarity from the Government.

We’ve all sacrificed a lot this year and those in charge can’t afford to lose the confidence of the public as we continue to pull together despite mounting frustrations.

We’ve been here before and now here we are again.

People are quite rightly questioning the statistics, so we need our country’s leaders to be crystal clear about what happens next. How long will lockdown last and what happens when it comes to reviewing local restrictions? Above all, how do we navigate our way through them?

We can’t lose sight of the fact we need to save livelihoods and, most crucial of all, people’s lives.

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