PUBLIC Health Dorset has said “no decision had been made” on whether the BCP area will be moved into Tier 2 of lockdown restrictions despite speculation.

The health authority gives an update on the situation in the county to members of the public every Thursday.

Last week, Public Health Dorset held an online question and answer session about Covid-19 with residents.

In response to a resident asking how a higher tier would work if it were introduced and if it would be county-wide or if Dorset and BCP would be treated separately, Dorset’s director for public health said any decision would be made with discussion with the government.

Mr Crowe said: “The first thing to understand is any decision that would be made would be in discussion with Government.

“Our connection with government is my discussions with the regional director of Public Health and we meet regularly in the south west to look at cases and look at the local situation and start to have that discussion about whether we feel we’re managing to contain our incidents or whether additional measures are needed.

“Beyond the basis of good understanding of whether additional measures would be likely to be effective given what we understand about our local situation, we have a Health Protection Board which works across both Dorset Council and the BCP Council area, and that board comes together and regularly reviews the data.

“This is then discussed at the regional meeting where we have a bit of challenge around the effectiveness of the current actions we’re taking under that board.

“If cases continue to rise, we would work with our local Outbreak Engagement Board, which sits above the Health Protection Board, and involves our local leaders, our politicians, chief executive of the council, director of Public Health and the chief officer of the CCG, to agree whether moving to a higher tier would be necessary, understanding the pros and cons of this.

“I think through that board, it would be important that this is a considered decision and not something that’s required or imposed at very very short notice so at least we would have a thorough understanding of the risks and the benefits of going into that higher tier level.”

On whether the tier changes would be pan-Dorset or separate for the Dorset and BCP areas, Mr Crowe said: “I think if case rates were very different between the two council areas, it’s possible you could see the two council areas being in different alert levels, but the impression I get is that increasingly the government is looking for consistency, recognising that between BCP and Dorset Council, many people live in one area and travel to work in another.

"What’s caused confusion elsewhere in the country is where you have neighbouring councils under very different measures and, of course, it causes all sorts of conflicting advice and guidance. I suspect if we’re in a situation where we were seeing that type of rise in not just Dorset Council but other councils in the south west, we may be looking at a regional discussion around moving to Tier 2.”