December 30, 2020 3.01 pm This story is over 39 months old

Lincolnshire to move to tier 4 from midnight

Non-essential shops must close

Lincolnshire will move to tier 4 from midnight (December 31), while North and North East Lincolnshire escaped the toughest restrictions.

This includes the City of Lincoln, Boston, South Kesteven, West Lindsey, North Kesteven, South Holland and East Lindsey.

Neighbouring counties Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire will also move into tier 4.

This comes as Tuesday saw national cases increase by 53,135 to 2,382,865, the highest daily rise recorded ever.

Similar to the November lockdown, tier 4 means non-essential shops, hairdressers, and leisure and entertainment venues must close, and people need to “stay at home”.

As a result, health workers are said to be “back in the eye of the storm” according to NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens.

Wednesday saw the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine being approved by the UK medicines regulator, raising the hopes of a rapid scale-up of vaccination against COVID-19 within days.

The second dose of the coronavirus vaccines will now be given later than originally planned, so more people can be given the first dose, according to experts.

The Tier 4 lockdown restrictions

The tier 4 restrictions are similar to the last national lockdown and include:

  • Residents should stay at home, unless they have a “reasonable excuse” such as work or education
  • All non-essential shops must close
  • Hairdressers and nail bars must close
  • Indoor entertainment venues must close
  • Gyms and indoor swimming pools, indoor sports courts and dance studios must close
  • You cannot meet other people indoors, unless you live with them or they are part of your support bubble
  • People should not leave tier four areas or travel abroad, except for limited reasons (including work and education)
  • Weddings and civil partnership ceremonies are only allowed in exceptional circumstances

“Clinically extremely vulnerable” people in tier four areas are advised to stay at home “as much as possible”. The government says if they can’t work from home, they shouldn’t go to work.