Hampshire and Waverley to join rest of Surrey in Tier 4
The new restrictions will come into force on Boxing Day (26 December)
Last updated 23rd Dec 2020
It has been announced that most of Hampshire and Waverley is to enter Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions.
The new rules will come into force at 00.01am on Boxing Day (26 December).
It means all of Surrey and East Hampshire will be under the toughest 'stay at home' order, which began in the rest of Surrey on Sunday (20 December).
Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, those parts of Essex not yet in Tier 4, Waverley in Surrey and Hampshire including Portsmouth and Southampton but with the exception of the New Forest will all be escalated to Tier 4.
Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset including the North Somerset council area, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire as well as Chesire and Warrington will all be escalated to Tier 3.
Cornwall and Herefordshire have seen sharply rising rates and will be escalated to Tier 2.
The Health Secretary said that the new variant of coronavirus found in the UK was spreading at a "dangerous rate".
Matt Hancock added that two cases of another new strain of Covid-19 linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK.