Covid in Bristol: Marshals to patrol city's streets - BBC News

Elected mayor Marvin Rees said the city will also take on some local responsibility for test and trace.

He said if the "targeted interventions" do not work it was "inevitable" the city would move into tier two or three.

Bristol is currently in the tier one category, which has the lightest restrictions, but has a rate of 340.7 new cases per 100,000, which is above the average for England.

Mr Rees said the "tier one plus approach" was to "remain in tier one, but taking some targeted interventions, actions to influence people's behaviour and stem the spread of the virus".

He said the duties of the eight marshals would include cleaning touch points, directing pedestrians, helping businesses manage queues, and offering guidance to the night-time economy.

He said a local test-and-trace system was needed because "we've been reliant on the national system that has not worked as well as we would like".

Bristol's director of public health, Christina Gray, said "household mixing" had led to an increase in cases.

Mr Rees said Bristol had seen a total of 5,339 Covid cases, with 1,579 positive cases in the past seven days.

A city council spokesperson said "tier one plus" was "a local term" and "not something from government".

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "There are three local Covid alert levels which are enshrined in law and we are not considering the introduction of a 'plus' system?

Local lockdown rules: What Covid tier is my area in.