Millions of people in England will today find out which tier they will be living under from next week, with the majority of the nation expected to be put under tier two measures.
London and Liverpool are expected to avoid the toughest tier three restrictions, while it is thought that only a small number of rural areas will get away with the softest tier one rules.
The health secretary will today announce the fates of each local authority in Parliament, after the Government set out its coronavirus ‘winter plan’ earlier this week which will include a five-day relaxing of rules over the Christmas period.
Each area will be placed back into one of the three tiers when the national lockdown ends on December 2. But measures have been toughened from the previous system meaning more authorities will be plunged under stricter tiers.
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Boris Johnson warned MPs last night that the new measures are going to be ‘very tough’. ‘We’ve got to keep our foot on the throat of this virus,’ Mr Johnson said, according to The Times.
Government sources said ‘at least one’ of the cities that was previously in tier three will drop to tier two, with reports suggesting that could be Liverpool after its infection rate dropped to 162 per 100,000 compared with 700 five weeks ago.
The capital is also thought to be placed into tier two, along with most authorities in the country.
Reports suggested there would only be few areas in England placed in tier one, with parts of eastern England and remote areas in Cornwall and Cumbria are expected to be allocated the lightest measures.
Meanwhile London was expected to go in Tier 2 along with the majority of the country.
Ministers are set to review the measures on December 16 and areas which are successfully lowering transmission rates could be dropped down a tier ahead of Christmas.
Areas placed in tier three will be offered support from NHS Test and Trace and the Armed Forces to deliver a six-week rapid community testing programme, making use of rapid lateral flow tests which give results within an hour.
Mr Hancock said: ‘Thanks to the hard work and sacrifice made by people up and down the country, we are able to move out of national lockdown and into more targeted local, tiered restrictions.
‘I know for those of you faced with Tier 3 restrictions this will be a particularly difficult time but I want to reassure you that we’ll be supporting your areas with mass community testing and extra funding.
‘By following the rules together we can get out of these tough measures.’
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