More areas in the east and south east of England will enter the toughest tier 4 restrictions on Boxing Day, health secretary Matt Hancock announced this afternoon.
He said that from 00:01 on Boxing Day, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, those parts of Essex that are not already in tier four, Waverley in Surrey, and Hampshire – including Portsmouth and Southampton but with the exception of the New Forest – will move up to tier four.
Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset (including the North Somerset area), Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire, as well as Cheshire and Warrington, will be escalated to tier three.
Cornwall and Herefordshire will move up to tier two.
He also announced immediate restrictions on travel from South Africa, where another variant of coronavirus has developed, which is even more transmissible than the new strain seen in the UK.
There are two cases of another new variant in the UK, both of which are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa.
Anyone who has been in South Africa in the past fortnight and anyone who is a close contact of someone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight must quarantine immediately, said Hancock.
He said the movement to higher tiers was necessary because of rising case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths, as the new strain of coronavirus spreads.
The top level of tier 4 means people should only leave home for food, medical reasons, exercise or work.
They should work from home if possible, and should not travel unless necessary.
Essential shops remain open.
Government figures today (December 23) show that a further 39,237 people in the UK tested positive for virus – an all-time high – and there were 744 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
However, case numbers are thought to have been higher during the spring peak when testing was much more limited.