OXFORDSHIRE will move into Tier 4 from one minute past midnight on Boxing Day.

READ: Here is what you can and can't do in Tier 4 

The county will be put under tighter restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said in a press conference this afternoon: "We all know that 2020 has been a hard year and it's ending in this festive period which is going to be very different." 

He said the variant of the Coronavirus is spreading at a 'dangerous' rate and that it was 'absolutely vital' that we 'act'. 

In the last government announcement, most of the south of England was moved from Tier 3 to a new Tier 4 while Oxfordshire remained in Tier 2. 

But today the Health Secretary Matt Hancock named Oxfordshire as one of the areas moving up to Tier 4.