After giving Brits the good news about the approval of a second coronavirus vaccine earlier today, the UK government has followed up with a rather more grim announcement.
Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, health secretary Matt Hancock revealed that 20M more people in England will be placed under the highest level of coronavirus restrictions from Thursday, meaning more than three quarters of the country is all-but in lockdown.
London is already within Tier 4 and it will now be joined by cities including Birmingham, Manchester, and Nottingham, as the Midlands, North East England, parts of the North West and South West are among those escalated.
The government has issued stay at home orders for Tier 4 zones, while entertainment venues such as theatres and cinemas must close. The government has previously said that film and TV production can continue, even in the toughest of restrictions.
It comes as a brutal second wave of Covid-19 sweeps the country. Some 50,023 new cases were recorded across the UK on Wednesday, while there were 981 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
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