New Covid tiers: full list of changes to coronavirus tiers in England after Matt Hancock’s announcement - and date of next review

Millions of people have found out whether their areas have been moved to new tiers of the coronavirus restrictions system.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock updated MPs on Thursday morning, as the latest data showed 255 (81 per cent) of the 315 local areas in England have seen a rise in case rates and 60 (19 per cent) have seen a fall.

Making a statement in the Commons, Mr Hancock told MPs: “As we enter the coldest months we must be vigilant and keep this virus under control."

London and parts of Essex and Hertfordshire entered Tier 3 on Wednesday, meaning 34 million people or 61 per cent of England’s population are living under the toughest level of restrictions.

So what's changed? Here is everything you need to know:

What changes have been made?

Ahead of the announcement, Mr Hancock was expected to only make minor changes to the tiering allocations, despite calls from health experts to ‘promote’ more areas to Tier 3.

Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts in England, said the Government “must now urgently consider adding other areas to that tier where infection rates are similarly worrying”.

“That means no delay in adding any area to Tier 3 that needs to be in that tier, and no premature removal of any area from it, either,” he added.

Despite the expectation that Hancock would make only minor changes, Mr Hancock told MPs Tier 3 restrictions will be extended across a wide area of East and South East England.

The changes will take place from 12.01am on Saturday 19 December.

Mr Hancock announced that the following areas willl be moved from Tier 2, up to Tier 3:

- Bedfordshire

- Buckinghamshire

- Berkshire

- Peterborough

- Hertfordshire (the entirety of the county)

- Surrey (with the exception of Waverley),

- Hastings and Rother

-Portsmouth

- Gosport

- Havant

The following areas will be moved from Tier 3, down to Tier 2:

- Bristol

- North Somerset

The following areas will be moved from Tier 2, down to Tier 1:

- Herefordshire

When is the next review?

Currently, it is set out in law that restrictions imposed by the incoming tier system will be reviewed every fortnight.

That means the first review point for the current tier allocations took place on Wednesday 16 December. However, it’s since been revealed that reviews are likely to take place more regularly than that.

Originally, Downing Street confirmed that even though data would be reviewed more regularly, reviews would still only take place every two weeks.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It will be reviewed every two weeks, and as you would expect we keep looking at the data continuously.”

But MPs who spoke to the Health Secretary to discuss London’s recent switch to Tier 3 said Matt Hancock said the next review of tiers following the 16 December review will be on December 23, and would be weekly from now on.

Has there been any news on Christmas restrictions?

Ahead of the announcement on tiers, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he feared ministers will “overcompensate” because of the decision to allow the Christmas easing of restrictions to go ahead despite warnings it will lead to a spike in infections and deaths.

Mr Burnham said the Government had made a clear “mistake” over Christmas, in easing the law to allow three households to come together between December 23 and 27.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson defied calls to lessen the freedoms being granted in England over the festive season and instead urged people to have a “smaller, safer” Christmas and avoid the elderly and vulnerable.

Mr Johnson advised people planning to meet with loved ones at Christmas to do so with “extreme caution” in a statement at Downing Street on Wednesday 16 December.

He said the laws were remaining the same, but “a smaller Christmas is going to be a safer Christmas, and a shorter Christmas is a safer Christmas”.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said modelling indicated the looser restrictions would lead to more deaths.

“Keep it small, keep it short, keep it local and think of the most vulnerable people,” was his advice for the festive period.