Millions of people will go into England’s harshest coronavirus restrictions this week as Matt Hancock announced the results of the tier system review.

Stating that cases were rising across the world, the Health Secretary told the Commons that a much wider area of the East and South East England would be placed into tier three as of 00.01am on Saturday morning.

The areas facing the tougher rules include Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, all of Hertfordshire, Surrey except Waverley, Hastings and Rother, Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant.

Moving on to the rest of the country, Hancock said the ‘vast majority’ of areas would remain in the same tier. Bristol and North Somerset will come out of tier three and be placed into tier two, and Herefordshire will drop down into tier one.

London and parts of the South East were already placed into tier three earlier this week, with the new restrictions coming into force on Wednesday at 00.01am. All 32 boroughs in the capital had seen a rise in cases, with Havering experiencing the biggest jump, from 348.3 per 100,000 people to 540.9.

Tier three rules mean hospitality venues, such as pubs or restaurants, can only serve takeaways, and people can only meet others from outside their households or bubbles in an outdoor, public setting.

However, some of the restrictions have changed since the tier system was first introduced, with salons, non-essential shops and gyms still allowed to stay open this time around.

Several areas had anticipated being removed from tier three, due to a recent drop in Covid cases. In the West Midlands, case rates are now at 158.4 infections per 100,000 people, down from 196.8 the previous week.

Infections also fell in Greater Manchester, Hull and the North East, after the regions were plunged straight into tier three following the end of the second lockdown.

However, the latest figures also showed an increases in four places across the North East; County Durham, Middlesbrough, South Tyneside and Redcar and Cleveland. The biggest rise was in South Tyneside, which now has 274.9 cases per 100,000, up from 215.3.

Earlier today Boris Johnson was warned that there could be ‘riots’ if he didn’t remove some regions from tier three. Senior government ministers said protests could turn violent in areas such as Manchester, Coventry, Warwickshire, Solihull and Leeds, which have been under the harshest restrictions for weeks.

Meanwhile, NHS chiefs said urged him not to move anywhere down a tier amid concerns that relaxing restrictions may trigger a third wave of the virus.

In a letter to the PM, NHS Providers, representing the 216 NHS acute, ambulance, community and mental health trusts in England, warned of ‘significant pressure’ on hospital beds, and ‘worrying’ increases in infection in certain areas.

They urged the government to exercise ‘extreme caution’ in moving regions down a tier, said some areas should move into harsher restrictions without delay.

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