Boris Johnson Has Warned Of A New Year Lockdown As Liverpool And London Escape The Toughest Covid Restrictions

The government has revealed which measures the public will face on a regional basis from December 3 onwards, with much of England set for harsher constraints after the current lockdown than when they entered it.

Liverpool and London escaped the toughest Covid restrictions, but Manchester, Birmingham, Kent and Newcastle will be placed into tier 3 from next month.

At a press conference in Number 10 on Thursday, the prime minister said "your tier is not your destiny – every area has the means of escape”, promising the measures would be reviewed every two weeks from December 16.

But he said failing to adhere to the new measures now could mean tigher national restrictions after Christmas, during which there will be a five-day relaxation of the rules.

"If we ease off now we risk losing control of this virus all over again, casting aside our hard-won gains and forcing us back to a New Year national lockdown with all the damage that would mean," he added.

Almost all of the country will be in at least tier 2 next week, banning all households mixing indoors and putting restrictions on hospitality, with only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly placed in the lowest tier.

Liverpool, which had been in tier 3 before the lockdown, will be downgraded to tier 2 next month after it has driven down infections and piloted a mass testing scheme.

But its North West neighbour Greater Manchester will remain in the highest level as despite continued improvement in the region's case rate several of its NHS trusts "remain under significant pressure".

Tier 3 restrictions will mean no indoor household mixing apart from support bubbles, no household mixing outdoors apart from some public spaces such as parks and public gardens, while pubs and restaurants will remain closed.

But all shops will stay open, as will personal care services such as hairdressers and beauticians, and indoor leisure is allowed but not in group activities, and outdoor sports are allowed too.

Indoor entertainment venues will have to remain closed, spectators will not be allowed back at sporting events, and people are advised not to travel outside of a tier 3 area unless necessary.

Overnight stays are only permitted within support bubbles, places of worship can open and weddings and cvil partnerships can take place with a maximum of 15 guests, although wedding receptions are not allowed, and funerals are limited to 30 people.

A postcode checker website was launched ahead of a statement in Parliament by Matt Hancock, but it crashed within seconds as the public raced to find out what tier they would be in.

The health secretary said: "These are not easy decisions, but they have been made according to the best clinical advice, and the criteria that we set out in the Covid-19 Winter Plan."

The regulations require the government to review the allocation of tiers every 14 days, with the first review complete by the end of 16 December.

Defending the current lockdown Mr Hancock said England has "successfully turned the curve and begun to ease pressure on the NHS” as a result of the measure.

"Cases are down by 19% from a week ago and daily hospital admissions have fallen 7% in the last week,” he told the Commons.

"January and February are always difficult months for the NHS so it is vital we safeguard the gains we made."

He said "as tempting as it may be we cannot simply flick a switch and try to return life straight back to normal", saying the measures are necessary given the "scale of the threat" faced by the UK.

"The majority of England will be in Tier 2, but in a significant number of areas I'm afraid (they) need to be in Tier 3 to bring case rates down," the Cabinet minister explained.

"Now, I know how tough this is, both for areas that have been in restrictions for a long time like Leicester and Greater Manchester, and also for areas where cases have risen sharply like Bristol, the West Midlands and Kent."

Mr Hancock said he understood that many areas will want to be in a lower tier after the current four-week lockdown, but explained: "The lowest case rates are in Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly which will go into Tier 1.

"In all three areas, they've had very low case rates throughout and I want to thank residents for being so vigilant through the whole pandemic."

However, Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said even under the new system, Tier 1 would likely lead to an increase in infections.

“Tier 1, which is very similar to the previous Tier 1, slowed things down but did not stop the rise anywhere," he told Thursday's press conference.

“So the reason why Tier 1 at this time of year, with the current measures we currently have before we have any vaccines, is relatively limited is almost certainly anywhere going into Tier 1 will rise and the only places that are there are places with very low rates at the moment.”

The full list of restrictions is below:

Tier 1: Medium alert

South East

Isle of Wight

South West

Cornwall

Isles of Scilly

Tier 2: High alert

North West

Cumbria

Liverpool City Region

Warrington and Cheshire

Yorkshire

York

North Yorkshire

West Midlands

Worcestershire

Herefordshire

Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin

East Midlands

Rutland

Northamptonshire

East of England

Suffolk

Hertfordshire

Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough

Norfolk

Essex, Thurrock and Southend on Sea

Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes

London

all 32 boroughs plus the City of London

South East

East Sussex

West Sussex

Brighton and Hove

Surrey

Reading

Wokingham

Bracknell Forest

Windsor and Maidenhead

West Berkshire

Hampshire (except the Isle of Wight), Portsmouth and Southampton

Buckinghamshire

Oxfordshire

South West

South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip and Sedgemoor

Bath and North East Somerset

Dorset

Bournemouth

Christchurch

Poole

Gloucestershire

Wiltshire and Swindon

Devon

Tier 3: Very High alert

North East

Tees Valley Combined Authority:

Hartlepool

Middlesbrough

Stockton-on-Tees

Redcar and Cleveland

Darlington

North East Combined Authority:

Sunderland

South Tyneside

Gateshead

Newcastle upon Tyne

North Tyneside

County Durham

Northumberland

North West

Greater Manchester

Lancashire

Blackpool

Blackburn with Darwen

Yorkshire and The Humber

The Humber

West Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

West Midlands

Birmingham and Black Country

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull

East Midlands

Derby and Derbyshire

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

Leicester and Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

South East

Slough (remainder of Berkshire is tier 2: High alert)

Kent and Medway

South West

Bristol

South Gloucestershire

North Somerset

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