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A full list of tiers by area has been presented to the Commons this morning. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to speak in Downing Street press conference in which he will give the official announcement of the new tier lockdown rules. In the meantime, the list of tiers by area that will take effect from 2 December has been unveiled.
Ministers had already warned Britons that the new tier lockdown was not going to make them happy, as most of the country was going to be on Tier 2 or Tier 3, meaning that socialising was still banned.
In fact, the new list revealed that 99% of the country is in either Tier 2 or Tier 3. When a region is either on Tier 2 or Tier 3 all social gatherings are banned, including in homes, or pubs unless people are from the same bubble. All hospitality must be closed in Tier 3, while pubs in Tier 2 must also shut unless they can serve as a restaurant.
The new list of tiers confirmed that in all UK 23,347,218 people (41,5%) will be in Tier 3 while 32,226,170 (57,3%) will be in Tier 2. Only 713,573 people (1,3%) will be in Tier 1 and are in the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, where gatherings of up to six are therefore allowed indoors. The new system will take effect on 2 December when the month-long national lockdown will be over. For what regards the Christmas period, the new system includes a 5-day Christmas break. The government will in fact review the tier system weekly, starting December 16. Here’s the full list of tiers by area:
Health Secretary Matt Hancock called for the country to be united and hopeful. He declared: “Sadly there is no quick fix. They call upon our determination to make sacrifices to bring it to hell and our ingenuity to make scientific advances that will get us through. Hope is on the horizon but we still have further to go.”
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