Tougher restrictions for large areas of South

LARGE swathes of southern England will be placed under Tier Three restrictions from Saturday due to rising coronavirus levels.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock set out the findings of the first full review of England’s tier allocations, with very little good news for areas already under tough restrictions.

Instead, he was forced to place more areas under the toughest measures, closing pubs, restaurants and cinemas.

The changes mean a total of 38 million people will be living in Tier Three from Saturday – 68% of the population of England.

Mr Hancock said areas moving into Tier Three are Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, the whole of Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.

The little good news came for Bristol and North Somerset, which will move from Tier Three to Tier Two. Herefordshire will go down into Tier One, although the county’s public health director raised concerns about the relaxation of measures there.

Mr Hancock told the Commons that the UK has “come so far” and “must not blow it now” in taking a cautious approach, which comes amid mounting concern about the prospect of a surge in cases following the easing of restrictions over the Christmas period.

Justifying the tougher measures, Mr Hancock said case rates in the South East of England are up 46% in the last week while hospital admissions are up by more than a third.

In the East of England, cases are up two-thirds and hospital admissions up by nearly half in the last week.

The latest Tier Three areas come after London and parts of Hertfordshire and Essex were placed under the top level of restrictions earlier this week.

Mr Hancock said: “I know that Tier Three measures are tough but the best way for everyone to get out of them is to pull together, not just to follow the rules but do everything they possibly can to stop the spread of the virus.”

He added that it was “vital that everyone sticks at it and does the right thing, especially over this Christmas period”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told reporters that he was concerned the tier system was “just not strong enough to control the virus”.

Mr Hancock’s announcement provoked anger in Greater Manchester – which had hoped to be moved out of Tier Three – and areas newly placed within the toughest restrictions.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he was “not surprised but very disappointed”.

Meanwhile, the Government announced that secondary school and college pupils’ return to class in England will be staggered in the first week of January to allow headteachers to roll out mass testing of children and staff.

However, education unions expressed concerned over the logistics of setting up the programme and criticised the Government for making a last-minute announcement at the end of term.