Millions in England to enter tougher Tier 4 Covid rules

With the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine now approved – the drive begins to get millions of people inoculated as quickly as possible. But the more urgent challenge tonight is to get the soaring case numbers under control.

In the last 24 hours, another 50,023 infections were confirmed across the UK. Nine hundred and eighty one deaths were sadly reported – an unprecedented daily high for an announcement, which takes the total number to 72,548.

From midnight tonight, over three quarters of England’s population will be in Tier 4 – told to stay at home, with more areas including Birmingham, Greater Manchester and Somerset are put under the toughest measures.

Everywhere else will be in Tier 3, apart from the Isles of Scilly. All of mainland Scotland or Wales are in their highest tier, also Tier 4 and Northern Ireland is in a national lockdown.