Tier 4 rules ‘inevitable’ across Britain as Covid-19 cases surge to record

More areas of the country face Tier 4 restrictions, government advisers have warned, after a record number of infections were reported yesterday.

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, braced millions for lockdown until the spring, suggesting that tough new rules would not be lifted until after the vaccination of vulnerable groups.

Boris Johnson ordered 16 million people in the southeast not to leave home without good reason after seeing a report by the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) on Friday. It concluded with “moderate confidence” that the new variant, known as VUI-202012/01, “demonstrates a substantial increase in transmissibility compared to other variants”. Although ministers played up the new strain when putting London into Tier 3 measures a week ago, at the