Covid: Christmas rules tightened, new tier 4 announced - Boris Johnson 🔴 @BBC News live - BBC

Subscribe and 🔔 to the BBC 👉 https://bit.ly/BBCYouTubeSub Watch the BBC first on iPlayer 👉 https://bbc.in/iPlayer-Home 🔘 Subscribe and 🔔 @BBC News 👉 https://bit.ly/3a1zyip 🔘 Stream BBC News live on BBC iPlayer 🔴 https://bbc.in/3b64IVP 🔘 Coronavirus / Covid-19 👉 https://bbc.in/3luQp33 🔘 Follow BBC News live updates here 👉 https://bbc.in/2JmUswL The prime minister held a Covid briefing at Downing Street a short time ago. He was joined by England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, and the UK's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance. Here are the key announcements: London, the South East and parts of eastern England are moving into a new tier four level of restrictions From midnight, residents in tier four must stay at home, with limited exceptions. Non-essential retail, gyms and personal care centres must close. Hospitality venues are already closed under tier three rules Household mixing indoors is banned - people can meet one other person from another household in an outdoor space only Travel into and out of tier four is not allowed, unless essential The "support bubbles" for adults living alone will continue The planned relaxation of Covid rules for Christmas has been scrapped for tier four areas For the rest of England, the rules allowing three households to meet will be reduced to Christmas Day only The new rules follow evidence that a new variant of the virus is spreading fast in the areas moved into tier four The new variant is responsible for an increase in hospitalisations, but there is no evidence to suggest it causes a more severe disease than the old variant or will be resistant to vaccines Boris Johnson says he made the decision with a “heavy heart” but “when the virus changes its method of attack, we must change our method of defence” Prof Whitty says it is important people in tier four areas don’t travel so they don’t spread the variant to other parts of the UK Sir Patrick says that while this is a “horrible moment, it is controllable and there is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccinations having started” Follow the story 👉 https://bbc.in/2KKbHMw BBC News Live | Coronavirus Press Conference | UK Government Press Briefing | BBC #BBC #BBCiPlayer #BBCNews #BBCCoronavirus #Coronavirus #Covid-19 #CoronavirusOutbreak #Corona #CoronavirusUK #borisjohnsonspeechonuklockdowntoday All our TV channels and S4C are available to watch live through BBC iPlayer, although some programmes may not be available to stream online due to rights. If you would like to read more on what types of programmes are available to watch live, check the 'Are all programmes that are broadcast available on BBC iPlayer?' FAQ 👉 https://bbc.in/2m8ks6v.