England Covid tiers: The full list of restrictions by area

New variant of Covid-19 could be behind increase in cases in south of England

The capital is heading into tier three (Getty Images)

London, parts of Essex and Hertfordshire will move into tier 3, England’s highest level of restrictions, at 1201am on Wednesday 16 December.

This comes as a new variant of the coronavirus sweeps across the south, which could possibly be the reason for the rapid increase in cases in the capital.

Regions marked with an asterisk will move into tier three at one minute past midnight on Wednesday 16 December.

Here is the full updated list:

Tier 1: Medium alert

South East

Isle of Wight

South West

Cornwall

Isles of Scilly

Tier 2: High alert

North West

Cumbria

Liverpool City Region

Warrington and Cheshire

Yorkshire

York

North Yorkshire

West Midlands

Worcestershire

Herefordshire

Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin

East Midlands

Rutland

Northamptonshire

East of England

Suffolk

Hertfordshire (*Broxbourne, Hertsmere, Three Rivers, Watford)

Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough

Norfolk

Essex (*Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Epping Forest, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea, Thurrock)

Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes

London

*all 32 boroughs plus the City of London

South East

East Sussex

West Sussex

Brighton and Hove

Surrey

Reading

Wokingham

Bracknell Forest

Windsor and Maidenhead

West Berkshire

Hampshire (except the Isle of Wight), Portsmouth and Southampton

Buckinghamshire

Oxfordshire

South West

South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip and Sedgemoor

Bath and North East Somerset

Dorset

Bournemouth

Christchurch

Poole

Gloucestershire

Wiltshire and Swindon

Devon

Tier 3: Very High alert

North East

Tees Valley Combined Authority:

Hartlepool

Middlesbrough

Stockton-on-Tees

Redcar and Cleveland

Darlington

North East Combined Authority:

Sunderland

South Tyneside

Gateshead

Newcastle upon Tyne

North Tyneside

County Durham

Northumberland

North West

Greater Manchester

Lancashire

Blackpool

Blackburn with Darwen

Yorkshire and The Humber

The Humber

West Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

West Midlands

Birmingham and Black Country

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent

Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull

East Midlands

Derby and Derbyshire

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire

Leicester and Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

South East

Slough (remainder of Berkshire is tier 2: High alert)

Kent and Medway

South West

Bristol

South Gloucestershire

North Somerset