Hampshire, Sussex and Oxfordshire move into Tier 4 from Boxing Day
More of the east and south east of England will enter the toughest Tier 4 lockdown on Boxing Day, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced.
He outlined areas of the south and east of England entering Tier 4.
Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Mr Hancock said: "From 00.01 on Boxing Day Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, those parts of Essex not yet in Tier 4, Waverley in Surrey and Hampshire including Portsmouth and Southampton but with the exception of the New Forest will all be escalated to Tier 4."
Matt Hancock also outlined areas of England moving up to higher tiers.
He added: "Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset including the North Somerset council area, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire as well as Chesire and Warrington will all be escalated to Tier 3.
The changes mean an additional six million people will be in a Tier 4 lockdown from Boxing Day.
This means a total of 24 million people will now be in Tier 4, or 43% of the population of England.
How have people in Southampton reacted to being in Tier 4 from Boxing Day? Watch ITV News Meridian's Kerry Swains report here:
Infection rates had been rising during the past week in the Thames Valley.
People in Henley feel those in Tier 4 bordering areas are coming into the Oxfordshire town too frequently, potentially bringing the virus. See what they have to say in ITV News Meridian's Heather Edwards report here:
Full list of Meridian region in Tier 4 from Boxing Day:
Hampshire- including Southampton and Portsmouth
Sussex
Oxfordshire
Waverley in Surrey
Full list of Meridian region already in Tier 4:
Kent and Medway
Buckinghamshire
Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, Wokingham, Windsor and Maidenhead and West Berkshire)
Surrey (excluding Waverley)
Hastings and Rother
Havant, Gosport and Portsmouth
Full list of Meridian region in Tier 3 from Boxing Day:
Isle of Wight
New Forest
Swindon
New strain?
Two cases of another new strain of Covid-19 linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK, Matt Hancock said.
The Health Secretary has announced two cases have been detected of another new strain of the coronavirus in the UK. He said: "Both are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks."
He added: "We are incredibly grateful to the South African government for the rigour of their science and the openness and the transparency with which they have rightly acted as we did when we discovered a new variant here."
Mr Hancock continued: "This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK."
The Health Secretary said both cases and close contacts of the cases have been quarantined, there are immediate restrictions on travel from South Africa and the Government is telling those who have been in contact with anyone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight that they must quarantine. He added: "These measures are temporary while we investigate further this new strain which is shortly to be analysed at Porton Down."