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Greater Manchester restrictions from 2 December

27 Nov 2020

The current national COVID-19 restrictions will end and the regional tier system returns

New restrictions

It has been confirmed that from 2 December Greater Manchester (GM) will be covered by tier 3 local COVID-19 restrictions until infection rates fall further.

Although infection rates in GM are falling, they still remain high, and there will remain limitations on activities and gatherings.

  • Household mixing will be banned indoors and in most outdoor areas.
  • The rule of six will apply in certain public outdoor areas, such as parks.
  • Hotels and indoor entertainment venues will be closed.
  • Bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway services only.
  • Leisure and sports facilities may continue to stay open, but group exercise classes should not go ahead.

We all need to adhere to these restrictions because we owe this to others in our communities, particularly the most vulnerable, to our health and social care providers and to our economy.

As already advised, and required by government, on-campus in-person teaching will end on 4 December, with on-line teaching continuing until the Christmas break starts on 18 December. There will be no changes to our current research and post-graduate research activities. We will be confirming Christmas closure arrangements shortly.

Unless currently required by your line manager to work on campus, you should continue to work from home.

To support our students in getting home during the government student travel window (3-9 December) a huge amount of work has been done to set up mass testing on campus to start from 28 November.

Many students will not be able to travel home for a variety of reasons. We will do our best to look after those who choose to remain in our residences throughout this time. We will be communicating the support which will be in place shortly.

We are awaiting further guidance from Government on how we will restart teaching and plan the return of students in the New Year. As soon as we have more information we will share it with you.

This is a challenging time for everyone. If you need help, please make use of our support services including Togetherall. Mental health charity Mind has also published a coronavirus guide.

We very much hope that the local restrictions will continue to reduce the rate of infection across Greater Manchester and enable us to return to more normal activities in the New Year. We also welcome the incredibly promising developments on vaccines which should start to be deployed very quickly.

Professor Nalin Thakkar

Vice-President for Social Responsibility