Tier 4: Millions more people in England face tighter Covid-19 restrictions

This means a total of 44m people will now be in Tier 4, or 78% of the population of England.

The areas to go into Tier 4, according to the Department of Health, are:

– the city of Leicester

– Leicestershire (Oadby and Wigston, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, Blaby, Charnwood, North West Leicestershire, Melton)

– Lincolnshire (City of Lincoln, Boston, South Kesteven, West Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Holland, East Lindsey)

– Northamptonshire (Corby, Daventry, East Northamptonshire, Kettering, Northampton, South Northamptonshire, Wellingborough)

– Derby and Derbyshire (Derby, Amber Valley, South Derbyshire, Bolsover, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Erewash, Derbyshire Dales, High Peak)

– Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (Gedling, Ashfield, Mansfield, Rushcliffe, Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood, Broxtowe)

– Birmingham and Black Country (Dudley, Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton)

– Coventry

– Solihull

– Warwickshire (Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwick, North Warwickshire, Stratford-upon-Avon)

– Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (East Staffordshire, Stafford, South Staffordshire, Cannock Chase, Lichfield, Staffordshire Moorlands, Newcastle under Lyme, Tamworth, Stoke-on-Trent)

– Lancashire (Burnley, Pendle, Blackburn with Darwen, Ribble Valley, Blackpool, Preston, Hyndburn, Chorley, Fylde, Lancaster, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre)

– Cheshire and Warrington (Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Warrington)

– Cumbria (Eden, Carlisle, South Lakeland, Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland, Allerdale)

– Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan)

– Tees Valley (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees )

– North East (County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside, Sunderland)

– Gloucestershire (Gloucester, Forest of Dean, Cotswolds, Tewkesbury, Stroud, Cheltenham)

– Somerset Council (Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset)

– Swindon

– Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

– Isle of Wight

– New Forest

Meanwhile the following local authority areas will move to Tier 3, according to the Department of Health.

– Rutland

– Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin

– Worcestershire (Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Worcester, Wychavon, Wyre Forest)

– Herefordshire

– Liverpool City Region (Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral, St Helens)

– York and North Yorkshire (Scarborough, Hambleton, Richmondshire, Selby, Craven, Ryedale, Harrogate, City of York)

– Bath and North East Somerset

– Devon, Plymouth, Torbay (East Devon, Exeter, Mid Devon, North Devon, South Hams, Teignbridge, Torridge, West Devon, Plymouth, Torbay)

– Cornwall

– Dorset

– Wiltshire

Speaking in the Commons, Matt Hancock said: “Sharply rising cases and the hospitalisations that follow demonstrate the need to act where the virus is spreading.”

The Health Secretary told MPs that the majority of new cases recorded yesterday “are believed to be the new variant”.

He added: “Unfortunately, this new variant is now spreading across most of England and cases are doubling fast.

“It is therefore necessary to apply Tier 4 measures to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the South East, as well as large parts of the Midlands, the North West, the North East and the South West.

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“Even in most areas not moving into Tier 4, cases are rising too, and it is therefore necessary to apply Tier 3 measures more broadly too – including in Liverpool and North Yorkshire."

Under England's Tier 4 rules people must stay at home. People cannot leave or be outside of the place they live unless they have a reasonable excuse.

Indoor visits to others are banned unless they are part of a person's support bubble. Outdoors, those living in Tier 4 areas can only meet one person from another household.