UK COVID-19 regional tier categories announced

Most of England has been placed in the two toughest tiers of Coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends next week.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock set out the plans to MP's in the House of Commons.

Last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that non-essential retail and beauty sectors will be removed from lockdown on 2 December.

Under the Government’s tier system, each area is split into medium risk (tier 1), high (tier 2) and very high (tier 3) and given a set of social distancing rules to follow.

Under the new tiers, alcohol will only be allowed to be served as part of a substantial meal in tier 2, while hospitality will only be allowed to operate on a take-away basis in tier 3.

Tier 3 areas will get a "six-week surge" in testing to help them exit the most severe set of restrictions as early as possible.

The following areas are among those in the strictest Tier 3:

• Manchester
• Hull
• Birmingham
• Wolverhampton
• Newcastle
• Bristol
• Kent
• Leeds

The following areas are among those in Tier 2:

• London
• Liverpool
• Brighton
• York
• Buckinghamshire
• Hampshire
• Gloucestershire
• Oxfordshire
• North Yorkshire

The following areas are among those in Tier 1:

• Isle of Wight
• Cornwall
• Isles of Scilly

The Government has launched a postcode tracker where a full list of locations and restrictions can be checked by entering a postcode.