Matt Hancock explains Cornwall being the only mainland area in Tier 1

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed that Cornwall will be placed into the lowest level of Covid-19 restrictions – Tier 1 – when the national lockdown ends on December 2.

During his statement in Parliament this morning, Mr Hancock announced the restriction levels which different local authority areas in England would be put into, after many of them were leaked early on the Government website’s postcode checker.

Explaining why, Mr Hancock said the lowest number of cases are in Cornwall, the Isle of Wight, and the Isles of Scilly, and that these areas would go into Tier 1.

He said: “In all three areas they’ve had very low case rates throughout and I’d like to thank residents for being so vigilant during the whole pandemic.

“I know many other areas will want to be in Tier 1. My own constituency in Suffolk has the lowest case rate outside of Cornwall and the Isle of Wight, but we will be in Tier 2.

“I hope more places can get to tier 1 soon, and the more people who follow the rules the quicker we can get there,” he added.

The new tier one restrictions for areas classed as such from December 2

Nationally, the infection rate is down 19 per cent on the previous week, and in the last seven days, the Isles of Scilly has seen no infections in the last seven days.

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In a written statement justifying each of the local authority area’s Tier allocations, Mr Hancock said of Cornwall and the isles of Scilly: “There are low case rates and test positivity in Cornwall and the case rates in all age groups are stable or declining.

“There have been no cases in the Isles of Scilly in the last seven days meaning there is strong evidence to make an allocation to Tier 1.”

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Tier 1 allows pubs, gyms, shops, to open and live sport events to host up to 4,000 viewers in an outdoor setting. It also reintroduces the rule of six for indoor settings and allows mixing outside of support bubbles and households.

The new tier system in place for the hospitality sector (Image: GOV.UK)

This will be welcome news to rural Cornwall, which hoped it would be placed into the lowest tier of restrictions, but some feared Bristol’s high infection rate could have meant the whole of the South West into Tier 2.

The entire of Devon, including Plymouth, has been placed into Tier 2 restrictions – meaning tougher rules on meeting people outside of a support bubble and pubs needing to operate as restaurants.

High Alert Tier 2

Some MPs quizzed the Health Secretary on whether or not the five-day national restriction easing around Christmas is a good idea, given the high infection rate for much of the country.

In his announcement, Mr Hancock said: “Regardless of your tier, I want you all to think about your own responsibility to keep the virus under control.

“We should see this rest not as a boundary to push, but as a limit on what the public health advice says we can do safely.

“We must all dig deep. The end is in sight. Hope is on the horizon. We mustn’t give up now. We must follow these rules, and make sure our actions today save lives.”