Millions more people are facing tighter COVID restrictions as the government extends Tier 4 rules to cover more areas in England.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the changes to MPs on Wednesday, saying that, although they will “place (a) significant burden on people…I’m afraid it’s absolutely necessary”.
He added: “Sharply rising cases and the hospitalisations that follow demonstrate the need to act where the virus is spreading.”
The changes will move an additional 20 million people into Tier 4, meaning a total of 44 million people (78% of England’s population) will be in that toughest tier.
Areas that will be covered by the Tier 4 rules from tomorrow are:
- Leicester City
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Northamptonshire
- Derby and Derbyshire
- Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
- Birmingham and Black Country
- Coventry
- Solihull
- Warwickshire
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
- Lancashire
- Cheshire and Warrington
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Tees Valley
- North East
- Gloucestershire
- Somerset council
- Swindon
- Bournemouth
- Isle of Wight
- New Forest
Also, The following areas will move to Tier 3 at the same time:
- Rutland
- Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin
- Worcestershire (Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Worcester, Wychavon, Wyre Forest)
- Herefordshire
- Liverpool City Region (Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens)
- York & North Yorkshire (Scarborough, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Selby, Craven, Ryedale, Harrogate, City of York)
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Devon, Plymouth, Torbay (East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, West Devon, Plymouth, Torbay)
- Cornwall
- Dorset
- Wiltshire
The changes were made as part of the first review since a number of other areas were moved into Tier 4 on Boxing Day.
They come after the number of daily positive cases reached a record high of 53,135 on Tuesday.
Also on Wednesday, the government announced that a second COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use and can be distributed from the first week of January.