A NEW set of tiers has been announced for England when lockdown finishes on December 2.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement in Parliament this afternoon, Monday.

But where will Warrington sit?

Before this second national lockdown at the start of November, Warrington was subjected to the toughest set of restrictions of tier 3.

RECAP > Government announces new coronavirus restrictions

Very high infection rates and large numbers of patients in Warrington Hospital was behind the move.

Warrington Borough Council chief executive Steven Broomhead said the authority would be taking its time to digest the Prime Minister's announcement this afternoon.

"We need to understand what this means in more detail for us," he said.

"We listened very carefully to the Prime Minister's announcement and now we need to understand what the tier 2 or 3 restrictions would mean.

"People have worked really hard since the lockdown to drive down the rates here and I haven't seen any examples of people not following the rules."

When Warrington entered tier 3 at the end October, the number of people testing positive in a week was around 800, and it peaked at almost 1,000.

The latest figures published this evening, Monday, has 468 positive tests in the past week. Giving a rate of 222.8 per 100,000 people.

It puts Warrington well outside the 100 local authorities with the highest rates of infections in the country.

However the number of patients at Warrington Hospital remains high.

Six patients sadly died over the weekend and 152 patients are currently in the hospital with Covid-19 – up from a high of 124 at the peak of the first wave in April.

What is the difference between tier 2 and 3?

  • Tier 2 would see pubs/restaurants only able to serve alcohol with a meal.
  • Tier 3 would see all hospitality shut except for delivery/takeaways. Indoor entertainment would also close with none of the exemptions allows before lockdown (such as for trampoline parks in Warrington).

Shops, gyms, personal care (such as hairdressers), collective worship, weddings, outdoor sports will all return, and the rule of six will apply across all tiers. The 10pm hospitality closures will end.

There is no mixing of households indoors in either tier 2 or 3.

The Government says which areas are going into which tiers will be announced on Thursday – based on the latest data.