Tier 3: New restrictions to cover large areas of southeast England

Portsmouth, Peterborough, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire and most of Surrey go into toughest restriction level

Large swathes of the southeast of England, including Portsmouth, Peterborough, Bedfordshire and Berkshire, are to be placed in the toughest tier 3 coronavirus restrictions, health secretary Matt Hancock has told the House of Commons.

Areas being moved into the most stringent controls, which will shut all pubs and restaurants except for takeaway and deliveries, also include all of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

And the tier 3 restrictions will also be applied from Saturday in all of Surrey apart from Waverley; Hastings and Rother in East Sussex; and Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.

Mr Hancock told MPs: “This is a moment when we act with caution.

“In the southeast of England, cases are up 46 per cent in the last week, hospital admissions are up by more than a third.

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

“It is therefore necessary to apply tier 3 measures across a much wider area of the east and southeast of England.”

The announcement came after the first fortnightly review by the government’s Covid Operations (CO) committee of the regionalised tier system introduced on 2 December. Decisions were made by ministers in a meeting late on Wednesday and are due to be reviewed again on 30 December.

There was disappointment for areas like Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Tees Valley and parts of the northeast and Yorkshire which had been hoping to be moved down to tier 2 after seeing infection rates drop over recent weeks. 

But Bristol and North Somerset were moved to the middle tier 2 level, allowing pubs and restaurants to reopen to people eating substantial meals and giving residents more opportunity to meet friends and family outdoors. Herefordshire was moved from tier 2 to 1, allowing pubs to open to drinkers with table service.

The review comes just days before the five-day relaxation of restrictions for Christmas from 23-27 December, during which up to three households will be able to gather for festive celebrations which Boris Johnson yesterday said should be small-scale and as brief as possible.

Mr Hancock urged people to take “personal responsibility” in keeping the pandemic under control.

He told the Commons: “It’s so vital that everyone sticks at it and does the right thing, especially over this Christmas period.

“It’s important to remember that this can be a silent disease. One in three people who have the disease has no symptoms but can still pass it on.

“Everyone, therefore, has a personal responsibility to play their part in keeping this pandemic under control.”