When tier restrictions will be reviewed next and what criteria will be used as Sunderland is moved into Tier 4

The government announced new tier restrictions for huge areas of England on Wednesday, December 30 – but when will this be reviewed?
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The majority of the north of England will now under the strictest Tier 4 restrictions from Thursday, December 31, whereby pubs and restaurants must stay closed, with collection and deliveries allowed, while essential shops can remain open.

Matt Hancock announced the move in the House of Commons on Wednesday, December 30.

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It comes as he told MPs he wanted rid of the “blasted” coronavirus restrictions as he pledged to speed up the vaccine roll-out.

Sunderland was placed in Tier 4 from New Year's Eve/Sunderland was placed in Tier 4 from New Year's Eve/
Sunderland was placed in Tier 4 from New Year's Eve/

How long will the tier system last?MPs voted earlier in the month to allow the tier system introduced after the second national lockdown to remain in place until at least January 27.

When will the tiers be reviewed?After the first announcement the Government said it would review the Tier system every two weeks, although an emergency reviews have taken place as well.

The next national review will take place during January.

How are the tiers decided?

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Tier levels are being decided by central government based on five factors, which include:

Infection rate overall

Infection rate among the over 60s

Rate at which cases are rising or falling

NHS pressure in the local area

Positive test rate (as a percentage of all tests carried out)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson previously explained: “The criteria we use to decide who went into which tier would be case detection rates in all groups, case detection rates in the over-60s, the rate at which cases are rising or falling, positivity rates and pressure on the NHS.

“So those are some of the criteria that we will use.”

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The areas in the North East where covid infection rates increased in week leadin...

According to the Department of Health, between December 18 and 24, the weekly Covid-19 case rate in England rose to 402.6 per 100,000, a 32% increase on the previous week.

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Some 14,915 patients have been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the past week, an 18% increase on the week before.

Mr Hancock told MPs: “Sharply rising cases and the hospitalisations that follow demonstrate the need to act where the virus is spreading.”

He said a new highly transmissible variant of coronavirus is now spreading across most of England, adding that “cases are doubling fast”.

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