LONDON: More than 20 million people across large swathes of England will be forced to live under the toughest category of COVID-19 restrictions when a national lockdown ends on Dec. 2, while London was placed in the "high alert" second-toughest tier.
Health minister Matt Hancock on Thursday announced final details of a regional system set to take effect when blanket restrictions on England's 55 million population end after a month-long lockdown - dictating the terms of daily life for the country's citizens and businesses.
"Hope is on the horizon but we still have further to go so we must all dig deep. The end is in sight, we mustn't give up now," Hancock told parliament, alluding to growing prospects for a vaccine against the Coronavirus in the coming months.
Britain has Europe's highest official death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic and has been hit hard by a second wave. The government's response on lockdown rules, procurement and testing has been criticised as disjointed, expensive and slow. "We must follow these new rules and make sure that our actions today will save lives in future and help get our country through this," Hancock said.
Thursday's decision had been keenly awaited by businesses across the country whose ability to trade in the critical pre-Christmas period will be affected. Hospitality is one of the large sectors that will suffer the most in higher tiers.
Hancock said cases were rising in parts of the capital and needed to be brought under control.