Boris Johnson has plunged areas of England into a new, even stricter tier, to combat a new strain of coronavirus which is spreading rapidly.

Although the mutated variant is not more deadly, it is thought to be ‘up to 70% more transmissible’ than previous versions of the disease.

From tomorrow morning, London and much of the South East and East of England will be under tier four until at least December 30, when the Government will carry out a review.

This includes Kent, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Surrey (excluding Waverley), Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes, Luton, Peterborough, Hertfordshire and Essex (excluding Clchester, Uttlesford and Tendring). 

The boroughs of Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, Rother and Hastings also now fall into tier four as well as all 32 of London’s boroughs. 

Plans allowing up to three households to mix together for five days over Christmas have been shelved in these areas, due to high rates of infection and a prevalence of the new variant of the disease.

These areas will essentially be under the same rules as England was during November’s national lockdown. 

Non-essential retail, gyms, hairdressers and other personal care services will be forced to close. 

People must work from home unless this is not possible and they should not leave their areas unless they have an acceptable work reason.

No one in tier four is allowed to stay overnight away from home and people are only allowed to mix with one one person from another household in an outdoor space. 

However support bubbles may continue where people from single-person households can continue to mix with their chosen household. 

Although the rest of England has been asked to ‘carefully consider’ when travelling abroad people in areas under tier four ‘are not permitted’ to travel to other countries. 

Rules for people in tier four are different when it comes to Christmas as well, with households banned from mixing at all, with the exception of support bubbles.

People in other tiers are still allowed to mix with up to three households indoors but only on Christmas Day, instead of the five days previously allowed. 

The only difference between tier four and previous lockdown rules is that places of worship will still be allowed to open. 

The Prime Minister emphasised that there would be no relaxations of restrictions on New Years Eve. 

What tier are you in?

Tier 1: Medium alert

South East

• Isle of Wight

South West

• Cornwall
• Isles of Scilly

West Midlands

• Herefordshire

Tier 2: High alert

East of England

• Cambridgeshire
• Some local authorities in Essex (Colchester, Tendring and Uttlesford)
• Norfolk
• Suffolk

East Midlands

• Northamptonshire
• Rutland

North West

• Cumbria
• Liverpool City Region
• Warrington and Cheshire

South East

• Brighton and Hove
• East Sussex (except Hastings and Rother)
• Hampshire (all local authorities except Gosport, Havant and Portsmouth)
• Oxfordshire
• Waverley
• West Sussex

South West

• Bath and North East Somerset
• Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
• Bristol
• Devon, including Plymouth and Torbay
• Dorset
• Gloucestershire (Cheltenham, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Gloucester, Stroud and Tewkesbury)
• North Somerset
• Somerset (South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip and Sedgemoor)
• Wiltshire and Swindon

West Midlands

• Shropshire, and Telford and Wrekin
• Worcestershire

Yorkshire

• City of York
• North Yorkshire

Tier 3: Very High alert

East of England

• Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)
• Essex (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20 – excluding Colchester, Tendring and Uttlesford)
• Hertfordshire (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)
• Peterborough (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)

East Midlands

• Derby and Derbyshire
• Leicester and Leicestershire
• Lincolnshire
• Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

London

• All 32 boroughs plus the City of London (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)

North East

• North East Combined Authority (this area includes the local authorities of County Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland)
• North of Tyne Combined Authority (this area includes the local authorities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland)
• Tees Valley Combined Authority (this area includes the local authorities of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees)

North West

• Greater Manchester
• Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool

South East

• Berkshire (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)
• Buckinghamshire (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)
• Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth, Hastings and Rother (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)
• Hertfordshire
• Kent (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20)
• Surrey (will move to tier four from 00.01am on Sunday, December 20 – excluding Waverley)

South West

• South Gloucestershire

West Midlands

• Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton
• Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
• Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull

Yorkshire and The Humber

• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Kingston upon Hull/Hull
• North East Lincolnshire
• North Lincolnshire
• South Yorkshire
• West Yorkshire

To find out what tier your area is in, use the Government postcode checker.

He said ‘all tiers will continue to be regularly reviewed in line with the approach previously set out’ with the next formal review set for the end of December. 

Meanwhile Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has declared a ‘strict travel ban’ between Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Festive bubbles will only be allowed on Christmas Day itself and all of Scotland will be placed in a tier four lockdown from Boxing Day for at least three weeks.

Wales was originally planning on enforcing a full lockdown from December 28 but has since decided to bring it forward to midnight tonight.

Plans to allow up to two households to celebrate together over five days during the festive period will be cut back to just Christmas Day itself in a bid to limit infections.

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