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Lincolnshire is now on level 4.
The county has been slapped with the highest restrictions that will take effect from one minute after midnight tomorrow, Thursday, December 31.
Matt Hancock delivered the news in the Commons at 3 p.m. on December 30.
Find out what you can and cannot do at level 4 here
He warned of pressures on the NHS and said action was necessary.
He said: “The rapidly increasing cases and the hospitalizations that continue demonstrate the need to act where the virus is spreading.”
The Secretary of Health told deputies that most of the new cases registered yesterday “are believed to be the new variant.”
Mr Hancock added: “Unfortunately, this new variant is now spreading across most of England and cases are rapidly doubling.
“Therefore, Tier 4 measures need to be applied to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the southeast, as well as large parts of the Midlands, the northwest, the northeast and the southwest.”
The areas to enter Level 4, according to the Department of Health, are:
– the city of Leicester
– Leicestershire (Oadby and Wigston, Harborough, Hinckley and Bosworth, Blaby, Charnwood, North West Leicestershire, Melton)
– Lincolnshire (City of Lincoln, Boston, South Kesteven, West Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Holland, East Lindsey)
– Northamptonshire (Corby, Daventry, East Northamptonshire, Kettering, Northampton, South Northamptonshire, Wellingborough)
– Derby and Derbyshire (Derby, Amber Valley, South Derbyshire, Bolsaver, Northeast Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Erewash, Derbyshire Dales, High Peak)
– Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (Gedling, Ashfield, Mansfield, Rushcliffe, Bassetlaw, Newark and Sherwood, Broxtowe)
– Birmingham and Black Country (Dudley, Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall, Wolverhampton)
– Coventry
– Solihull
– Warwickshire (Rugby, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwick, North Warwickshire, Stratford-upon-Avon)
– Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (East Staffordshire, Stafford, South Staffordshire, Cannock Chase, Lichfield, Staffordshire Moorlands, Newcastle under Lyme, Tamworth, Stoke-on-Trent)
– Lancashire (Burnley, Pendle, Blackburn with Darwen, Ribble Valley, Blackpool, Preston, Hyndburn, Chorley, Fylde, Lancaster, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre)
– Cheshire and Warrington (Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Warrington)
– Cumbria (Eden, Carlisle, South Lakeland, Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland, Allerdale)
– Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan)
– Tees Valley (Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton-on-Tees)
– Northeast (County Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside, Sunderland)
– Gloucestershire (Gloucester, Forest of Dean, Cotswolds, Tewkesbury, Stroud, Cheltenham)
– Somerset Council (Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset)
– Swindon
– Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
– Isle of Wight
– New forest
Confirming the news, Craig Leyland, ELDC leader, posted on Twitter: “Lincolnshire is now at Level 4.”
The Health Secretary praised the introduction of the Oxford vaccine by Astra, which will be launched in the UK, but cautioned against the challenge of the new strain of the virus.
He told MPs: “The day is coming when we can lift the restrictions that no one in this House wants to see more than is absolutely necessary.
But we must act to suppress the virus now, especially since the new variant makes the time between now and then even more difficult.
“And while we have the good news from the vaccine today, we also have some tough decisions to make.”
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