In his last announcement, Matt Hancock said that most of the country would be put onto tighter restrictions.

The Health Secretary spoke in the Commons on December 30 to announce that 530,000 doses of the Oxford vaccine would be rolled out from January 4. 

But he also announced that far more parts of the country are now entering Tier 4 than before, with most other areas moving into Tier 3. 

The remaining parts of the South East not in lockdown will be accelerated along with the Midlands, parts of the North East, North West and areas in the South West. 

An additional 20 million people will moved to the highest tier from one minute past midnight tonight. This means a total of 44 million people will now be in Tier 4, or 78% of the population of England.

Tier 4 was created by the government on December 19 to stop the spread of the new highly infectious variant of the virus. 

Just days before Christmas, the whole of Oxfordshire was told it would be accelerated from Tier 2 into Tier 4 on Boxing Day.

The government is next expected to review the Tiers on January 13, two weeks today. 

Its decision will be based on five indicators: 

  • case detection rates in all age groups
  • case detection rates in the over-60s
  • the rate at which cases are rising or falling
  • positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken)
  • pressure on the NHS

The indicators are designed to provide a full picture of what is happening with the virus in any area so that suitable action can be taken.

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