Boris Johnson has announced that London and parts of the East and South East will be moved into a new, higher tier of coronavirus restrictions, which will be known as Tier 4.
The new tier, which comes into action tomorrow morning, will involve similar restrictions enforced for the national November lockdown.
Residents in Tier 4 areas must stay at home, with limited exemptions, with non-essential retail, indoor gyms and personal care services forced to close. People should also work from home when they can, should not enter or leave tier four areas, and should not travel abroad. However, they can meet one person from another household in an outdoor space.
Advert
The PM also announced that there would be major changes to the relaxation of rules around Christmas, saying households in tiers 1, 2 and 3 would now only be able to come together for Christmas Day, and not the five day window as previously stated.
Those in Tier 4, meanwhile, cannot spend Christmas day with anyone outside of their household.
"It is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned," Johnson said during a briefing today.
Advert
"In England, those living in Tier 4 areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at Christmas, though support bubbles will remain in place for those at particular risk of loneliness or isolation.
"Across the rest of the country, the Christmas rules allowing up to three households to meet will now be limited to Christmas Day only, rather than the five days as previously set out.
"As before, there will be no relaxation on the 31 [December], so people must not break the rules at New Year."
Currently, the R rate is between 1.1 and 1.2 in the UK, but between 1.1 and 1.3 in both London and the South East. The East also has an R rate between 1.2 and 1.4.
Advert
New figures show that there have been 27,052 new cases in last 24 hours.
According to Sky News, the prime minister hosted a cabinet call ahead of today's news conference with England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
Government advisers reportedly warned ministers about how they believed the new variant spreads more quickly than previous strains - along with their fears that any relaxation in public attitude could risk offsetting the benefits of the vaccination rollout, which is taking place in stages over the course of the next few months.
Advert
Professor Whitty said in a statement that the UK has informed the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the new variant coronavirus may be spreading more rapidly.
His statement said: "There is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is under way to confirm this.
"Given this latest development, it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission."
With the R rate for UK currently between 1.1 and 1.2, the latest growth rate is +1 percent and +4 percent.
Advert
"An R number between 1.1 and 1.2 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 11 and 12 other people," the government website explains.
"A growth rate between +1% and +4% means that the number of new infections is growing by between 1% and 4% every day."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: UK News, News, Coronavirus