BREAKING New Tier 4 Areas Announced By Matt Hancock

A number of areas have been put into strict Tier 4 restrictions in a bid to curb the rapid rise of coronavirus infections in the UK.

Coronavirus cases have risen 57 per cent in the last week, a worrying leap for the government during the festive season.

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Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced the following areas have been escalated from 00.01 on Boxing Day (26th December).

Tier 4

• Sussex
• Oxfordshire
• Suffolk
• Norfolk,
• Cambridgeshire
• The rest of Essex
• Waverley in Surrey
• Hampshire including Portsmouth
  Southampton (but with the exception of the New Forest)

Tier 3

• Bristol
• Gloucestershire
• Somerset including the North Somerset council area
• Swindon
• The Isle of Wight
• The New Forest
• Northamptonshire
• Cheshire
  Warrington

Tier 2

• Cornwall
  Herefordshire

Tier 4 means that all non-essential stores have to close, no household mixing is allowed indoors and that only one person may meet one person in an outdoor setting for exercise.

The areas join London and several other places in the South East of England that were plunged into lockdown once more on Sunday following the news of a mutant Covid-19 strain, which is thought to be more infectious, that has swept across the country.

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The new restrictions are hoped to curb the spread of the new variant.

Mr. Hancock also announced immediate new rules for anyone who may have travelled back from South Africa.

South Africa has also discovered a new variant of coronavirus, which has thought to have mutated more and be even more contagious.

Travel to South Africa has been restricted, and all those who have recently returned from the area are now being asked to quarantine.

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In more positive news, Mr. Hancock revealed that there were now 500 vaccination sites in order for people to receive doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has also released the final findings to the regulator, with hopes it can be distributed in the New Year.

Topics: UK News, lockdown, Coronavirus, Covid-19

Kimberley Bond

Kim is a journalist at Tyla, and has previously worked at the Evening Standard, Radio Times as well as several national newspapers. A showbiz obsessive and a television fanatic, Kim is particularly interested in celebrity gossip, A-list events and the latest releases on either the big or small screen. Contact her at [email protected]

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