Health Secretary Matt Hancock pays tribute to the people of Liverpool "both for following restrictions and embracing community testing".

"We’ve seen in Liverpool where now over 300,000 people have been tested how successful this community testing can be," he says.

The result is that in the Liverpool city region cases have fallen by more than two-thirds. And in the borough of Liverpool itself, where the mass testing took place, cases have fallen by three-quarters.

But Hancock says: "It hasn’t been easy and sadly many people in Liverpool have lost their lives to Covid. But thanks to people sticking to the rules and to the huge effort of community testing, Liverpool's cases are now low enough for the whole city region to go into tier two."

He adds: "This shows what we can do when we work together - we can beat the virus."

He thanks those across Liverpool who "demonstrated impressive leadership and a true sense of public service".

The measures will be reviewed every fortnight, says Matt Hancock, with the first full review to be completed by the end of 16 December.

A "significant" number of areas are in tier three - and Hancock says he knows "how tough this is".

Those with the lowest number of cases - Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly - are in tier one. Hancock thanks them for their "vigilance".

Regardless of tiers, he asks everyone to think of their own responsibilities.

People should see them "not as a boundary to push" but a limit as to what they can do.

The less any one person passes the virus on, the faster it gets under control "and that is on all of us", he says.

Hancock now sets out how the government decided which tier to place different areas in.

He says decisions have been based on:

• Case detection rates in all age groups
• Case detection rates in the over 60s
• The rate at which cases are rising or falling
• Positivity rate (the number of positive cases detected as a percentage of tests taken)
• Pressure on the NHS

However he says the government has also considered things like travel patterns between different areas.

The health secretary adds that the rules are less stringent than the national lockdown but are designed to keep people safe and safeguard the gains that have been made.

As a result, he says more areas will be in the top two tiers of restrictions, to keep the virus under control and protect the NHS.

Click here for full details of which area is in which tier - and what the rules are.

There's a long list of areas in England's top tier of Covid rules, tier three, where many businesses must close.

The areas are as follows:

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 in tier two)
• Kent and Medway

South West

• Bristol
• South Gloucestershire
• North Somerset

Matt Hancock thanks people for their "shared sacrifice" and "resolve" so far - saying this means there is no need to renew nationwide measures in England.

He says while this "provides hope for so many", we "must remain vigilant".

It is crucial to protect the NHS so it is there for all of us - through the pandemic and beyond.

With 16,570 people in hospital across the UK and 696 deaths reported yesterday, "we cannot simply flick a switch" and have life return back to normal.

This would see the NHS overwhelmed, he adds.

The return to a tiered approach will see us suppress the virus while supporting the economy, education and the NHS.

The tiers have to be tougher than before to avert another national lockdown.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock begins his statement by saying he knows how difficult it has been for areas which have been under coronavirus restrictions for a long time.

However, he says national measures have "successfully turned the curve" and eased the pressure on the NHS.

He adds that January and February are always "difficult months" and that's why it is "vital we safeguard the gains we have made".

Only three areas make the lowest level of restrictions, tier one.

They are as follows:

• Isle of Wight

• Cornwall
• Isles of Scilly

Click here for full details of which area is in which tier - and what the rules are.

The following areas are in tier two (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
• Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
• Norfolk
• Essex, Thurrock and Southend on Sea
• 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

See the full list of which areas are in which tiers here., external

Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, tweeted that the move into tier two - down from tier three - was "vindication of the hard work, dedication and sacrifice shown by people across our region for the past two months".

"These restrictions will still be tough for many local businesses and Covid remains a threat, so please stay safe," he added.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock is now making a statement to the Commons. We're expecting him to set out further details on which parts of England will go into which of the three tiers of coronavirus rules after the national lockdown ends after 2 December.

Click here for full details of which area is in which tier - and what the rules are.

The government has now published a full list of which parts of England will be in which of the three tiers of coronavirus rules, from 2 December.

Here's a link to the list., external

Image source, Reuters

In the past few minutes, the prime minister has left Downing Street - for the first time in two weeks.

Boris Johnson had to self-isolate, under coronavirus rules, after coming into contact with an MP who later tested positive for Covid.

During his isolation period the PM attended two sessions of Prime Minister's Questions via video link, in the first virtual PMQs in history.

Image source, Getty Images

Door-to-door carol singing and nativity plays for under 18s can take place once the lockdown in England ends, a Church of England representative has said.

Conservative MP Andrew Selous, who speaks on behalf of the church in the House of Commons, said indoor communal singing would be limited to “performance only” from 2 December, meaning choirs or bands can sing in places of worship over Christmas but not the wider congregation.

However, he confirmed outdoor and door-to-door carol singing would be permitted, as long as people maintained 2m social distancing.

He also told the Commons nativity plays for under 18s were permitted "in accordance with the performing arts guidance".

We understand from the government postcode look-up tool that tier-three areas will include: Manchester, Hull, Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Kent.

However, the look-up tool has crashed. We will bring you more when we have it.

We're expecting an announcement from Health Secretary Matt Hancock in the House of Commons very soon, with further detail on which parts of England will go into which of the three tiers of coronavirus rules after 2 December.

In the last few minutes the government has published a postcode look-up tool for people to find out what tier their area is in, but several people have reported that they can't access the site due to technical difficulties.

At the moment, we don't have a definitive list of which areas are in which tier.

But through a manual search (before the site crashed...) we can tell you that tier three areas include Manchester City Council, Birmingham City Council and Leeds City Council.

Tier two areas include Liverpool City Council and London.

We'll bring you more detail as we get it.

People can now search for which tier level their part of England will go into after lockdown ends, as the government has just published a postcode search tool.

We'll bring you more detail as we get it, but here's a link to the tool., external

Image source, PA Media

It's not long now until UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock gives details of the Covid tier allocations across England, in a statement to the House of Commons.

The higher the tier your area is in, the more severe the restrictions you will face after the national lockdown ends next week.

If you're placed in tier three - the top tier with the tightest restrictions - it's not just the rules that will change.

Tier-three areas will be eligible for rapid or "lateral flow" coronavirus tests - which give results in about 20 minutes without the need for a lab - to help bring down infections and reduce restrictions.

The areas will also be offered support by NHS Test and Trace and the armed forces to deliver a six-week rapid community testing programme.

Some of those in tier-three areas have been describing the help they've already received to curb infection rates.

Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said the area - which was the first to enter the highest tier in October - has made "remarkable" progress since being put into tier three, with infection rates in two areas dropping from about 750 per 100,000 people "to 180 across the city region".

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the help received from the armed forces in a mass testing trial had helped to bring virus "back under control again".

There will also be further financial support for tier-three areas. As Chancellor Rishi Sunak said to our colleagues on BBC Breakfast this morning: "I know for those of you faced with tier-three restrictions this will be a particularly difficult time but I want to reassure you that we'll be supporting your areas with mass community testing and extra funding."

Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Getty Images

After a long lull, coronavirus infection rates are beginning to rise in some areas in South Africa - particularly along the southern coastline.

Doctors in Cape Town and in Port Elizabeth are reporting a spike in hospital admissions.

One provincial leader described the increase as "staggering", and said the virus was spreading widely, not just in a handful of hotspots.

Concerns about a second wave are coinciding with nationwide protest action over low pay by community health workers – key figures in South Africa's fight to contain the virus.

The country is now heading towards its main summer holiday season - a time when millions of people travel.

With the economy in deep trouble, the government is thought to be reluctant to reimpose tough lockdown restrictions.

South Africa is the worst-affected country on the continent, with more than 775,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 21,200 recorded deaths.

Robert Cuffe
BBC head of statistics

The rate of positive Covid cases in England "has shown signs of levelling”, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS estimates one in 85 people in England had coronavirus in the week of 15 to 21 November, compared with one in 80 the week before.

The ONS figures are for private households and do not include people staying in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings.

Over the past week, positivity rates have increased in the East Midlands and have continued to decrease in north-west England, while the West Midlands, East of England, London, and south-east and south-west England now also appear to be decreasing.

The highest positivity rates are seen in Yorkshire and The Humber, the North West and the North East.

The coronavirus pandemic could wipe out 25 years of increasing gender equality, new global data from UN Women , externalsuggests.

"Everything we worked for, that has taken 25 years, could be lost in a year," UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia has said.

With women doing significantly more domestic chores and family care because of the impact of the pandemic, there are fears that employment and education opportunities could be lost, and women may suffer from poorer mental and physical health.

The care burden poses a "real risk of reverting to 1950s gender stereotypes", Ms Bhatia says.

Even before the pandemic, it was estimated women were doing about three quarters of the 16 billion hours of unpaid work that are done each day around the world.

In other words, before coronavirus, for every one hour of unpaid work done by men, three hours was done by women. Now that figure is higher.

• Read more on this story here