Covid-19 tier 4: Essex districts to enter new restrictions

Basildon has the highest infection rate in England

Parts of Essex that had been under tier three Covid-19 restrictions will fall under new, tougher, tier four rules.

The new restrictions apply in Basildon, Brentwood, Harlow, Epping Forest, Castle Point, Rochford, Maldon, Braintree, Chelmsford, Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea from 00:01 GMT on Sunday.

Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring have been kept in tier two.

Basildon has the highest case rate in England at 865.4 per 100,000 people.

This was a 68% increase on the previous week.

All areas under tier four and tier two in Essex had a week-on-week increase.

Rochford had a 207% rise in its case rate, up from 206 per 100,000 to 633. It was the second-highest rise in England after Lewes in east Sussex, which had a 208% rise to 154.9 per 100,000.

Under tier four, a stay-at-home order is being issued to residents, although those who have to travel for education or work may continue to do so.

Social mixing will be restricted to meeting one other person from outside your household in an open public space.

• What is tier four and who is in it?

• Who can you see at Christmas?

• Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire move to tier 4

All non-essential retail will have to close, along with hairdressers, nail bars and indoor entertainment venues.

Support bubbles remain unaffected, as do the exemptions for separated parents and their children.

No-one in tier four will be allowed to join Christmas Day bubbles in tiers one to three.

Basildon Council leader, Labour's Gavin Callaghan, said the new Covid-19 variant, to which the rise in cases in London and the south-east is being attributed, had been known about a week ago.

"The decision could have been made much earlier," he wrote on Twitter.

"This is no way to run a country."

Essex County Council said: "We will work through the detail on what this means for the residents and businesses of Essex and share additional updates as soon as it is available."

The whole of neighbouring Hertfordshire, previously in tier three, is to be moved into tier four.

The measures will be formally reviewed on 30 December.