By Tiers after the lockdown
The three-tier system will return to England from December 2 – but restrictions for each will be toughened, Boris Johnson told the Commons this afternoon.
Regions will find out which tier they will be in on Thursday.
The prime minister’s “stay at home” instruction to the country will end a week on Wednesday, following a month of tougher national instructions.
Gyms, hairdressers, leisure facilities and non-essential shops in all parts of England will be allowed to reopen when lockdown ends next month, the Prime Minister announced.
Weddings and collective worship can resume.
And, for the first time since the country’s first lockdown in March, fans will be allowed back into outdoor sports stadiums in areas with the lowest cases of coronavirus.
Pubs and restaurants will be allowed to re-open in Tier 1 and Tier 2, but must remain as takeaway-only services in Tier 3.
The PM told MPs that the plan “is designed to carry us safely to spring”, while he said the “scientific cavalry is in sight” as he praised advances in testing, treatment and vaccines.
“By the spring these advances should reduce the need for the restrictions we have endured in 2020 and make the whole concept of a Covid lockdown redundant,” the prime minister said.
Tier allocations will be reviewed every 14 days, and the regional approach will last until March.
“For the first time since this wretched virus took hold we can see a route out of the pandemic,” Mr Johnson, who is self-isolating, told MPs via video link.
He added, however, that “we are not there yet” and warned against “squandering our hard-won gains”.
