ALL pubs in England to close from tonight except in Tier 1 Isles of Scilly

ALL pubs in England must close tonight, the Government has announced – with only those in the Isles of Scilly allowed to remain open. It comes as three-quarters of the country will be plunged into Tier 4 restrictions – which close all non-essential shops and ban household mixing – from midnight tonight. Millions more will […]

ALL pubs in England must close tonight, the Government has announced – with only those in the Isles of Scilly allowed to remain open.

It comes as three-quarters of the country will be plunged into Tier 4 restrictions – which close all non-essential shops and ban household mixing – from midnight tonight.

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Millions more will join regions including London and the south-east under the new lockdown.

And under new laws, Brits will be forced to order takeaway pints rather than propping up the bar.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced today that all areas currently in Tier 2 will move to the third or fourth level of restrictions from tomorrow.

It comes amid concerns over a mutant strain of Covid which has taken hold across much of the country.

Mr Hancock told told MPs the weekly case rate in England rose to 402.6 per 100,000 people between December 18 and 24 – a 32 per cent increase on the previous week.

And 18 per cent more people are battling the illness in hospital week-on-week, with 14,915 patients on wards across the country.

Some 44 million people will now be in Tier 4 – or a whopping 78 per cent of the population of England.

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North News and Pictures

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Only pubs on the Isles of Scilly, in Tier 1, will be allowed to open amid the changes.

The news is another blow to the beleaguered industry.

Today, 981 more people were recorded to have died with Covid in the UK – the highest toll since April.

More than 50,000 also tested positive in the second-highest day ever in Britain.

Yesterday, a record 53,135 cases were diagnosed as hospital admissions go well past the April peak.

Under Tiers 3 and 4, pubs and bars can only open for takeaways and deliveries.

Household mixing is banned altogether in the strictest tier. In Tier 3, people can meet friends and family who live in different homes outside in a group of up to six.

Announcing the changes this afternoon, Mr Hancock said: “Even in most areas not moving into tier four, cases are rising too, and it is therefore necessary to apply tier three measures more broadly too.”

He admitted the measures “place a significant burden on people, and especially on businesses affected”, but added: “I am afraid it is absolutely necessary because of the number of cases that we’ve seen.”

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today that the between December 17 and 23, 800,900 people in England – 1.47 per cent of the population, or one in 70 – had Covid.

The percentage of people testing positive has continued to increase sharply in London, the east, and the south-east, while rates in the north-west, West Midlands and south-west are on the up.

Infections are no longer decreasing in Yorkshire and The Humber, the north-east and the East Midlands.

Essex is now the worst-hit place in England.

Brentwood has the highest rates in the country, with 1,258.1 cases per 100,000 people.

Nearby Epping Forest and Thurrock are in second and third place on the grim hitlist, with 1,256 and 1,181.6 cases respectively.

A ‘major incident’ has been declared at hospitals in the county as patients are treated in the back of ambulances and medics prepare to work in tents usually reserved for terror attacks.