UK Covid live: tier 3 rules brought in across southern England as furlough scheme extended to end of April 2021

These past 12 months have seen Covid spread with speed and severity. Over 65,000 have died in the United Kingdom, at least 620 of them health and care workers making the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

Over 240,000 have been treated in hospitals with the disease and, as [Hancock] reminded us, what gives this virus such lethal advantage is that people who appear healthy can go about their lives unaware they are transmitting the virus to others.

So, of course we accept and understand why he has had to move areas into higher tiers today, even though this means tens of millions of people across England are now living under the toughest restrictions.