The Government is meeting today to review restrictions in England as speculation mounts that more areas will be placed into Tier 4 from Boxing Day.
Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary, this morning said a “judgement” call would have to be made but the Government could not ignore the “very worrying” levels of cases in parts of the country.
Mr Jenrick said the Tier system was designed “before we knew the full ferocity of the new variant, and so we do have to make sure it’s sufficiently robust to be able to withstand this.”
Despite this he said there was no “immediate plan” to widen coronavirus restrictions.
“The number of cases is rising and the (new coronavirus) variant is spreading to other parts of the country, so we will see whether it’s necessary to do more and make sure that the tiered system is sufficiently robust for the new circumstances.”
