Gyms across Merseyside will reopen again as part of new lockdown measures.
Fitness facilities were forced shut their doors last week as the Liverpool City Region was placed in a Tier 3 lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus.
But the Government has adjusted the ruling to allow gyms to resume business following discussions between Downing Street and Steve Rotheram.
The region’s Metro Mayor made the case for the partial change due to similar measures imposed in other regions of the North West also placed under Tier 3.
They include Greater Manchester, whose Metro Mayor Andy Burnham has resisted Government attempts to move the area into Tier 3, and Lancashire.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mayor Rotheram confirmed that the concessions had been made in light of those offered to other North West areas.
He said: “I argued that gyms in the Liverpool City Region were no less safe than those in Lancashire – that had been allowed to remain open.
“I also convinced them that – as we now had local Test and Tracing (and had been chosen as a pilot area to trial new Test Technologies) – we could manage the safety of gym users as well as anywhere in the country.
“The Government will now include the provision to rescind their original decision – when they lay the legislation before Parliament tomorrow – on the orders for Greater Manchester.”
It is expected that the relaxed restrictions around gyms will take effect from Friday (October 23, 2020) in line with Greater Manchester’s local lockdown.
However the move has been offset by news that soft play areas will need to close.