The coronavirus tier system is due to be reviewed on Wednesday, two weeks after it was first imposed following England's national lockdown in November.

It comes ahead of a UK-wide relaxation of social distancing rules for Christmas, allowing up to three households to get together in homes and places of worship between 23-27 December.

NHS Providers, which represents health trusts in England, has told the prime minister in a letter to exercise "extreme caution" when making the decision to move any areas into a lower COVID-19 tier. NHS bosses say areas which need to be moved into Tier 3 should be done so "as soon as this is needed, without any delay".

NHS Providers CEO Chris Hopson said health workers are "really worried", adding that due to a surge in COVID-19 patients and a rise in infection rates, hospitals are facing a difficult period.

"Any extra social contact equals virus spread," he said. "We all want to get together, but we need to ensure we look at the evidence. Although we've made some good progress... the reality is the progress we've made as a whole is at the lowest end of expectations. We've got to keep going with these tough restrictions over winter... we cannot take risks".

Yes Omah, they've been saying on our local news how the infection rates are creeping up again.

Boris is on a loser whatever he does.
Can you imagine the outcry if he kept a tight lockdown all over Christmas? He would be lynched!
Then he is in the poo because he tries to relent a little and if/when a third surge happens, he will be blamed for that too.

I don't believe for a moment, that ANY politician could have prevented, or stopped, Covid. So perhaps some people ought to give him a break unless they could do any better themselves.

I would love to ask him if he would still have taken the job if he had known what was ahead with Brexit and Covid!

Just been reading about a new strain of this virus that's showing up in the London Area, really worrying and just what we don't want.
As I'm on the tablet I can't post a link but it's on the BBC News Site.

Yes Baz that's it. Thanks.

Just been reading about a new strain of this virus that's showing up in the London Area, really worrying and just what we don't want.
As I'm on the tablet I can't post a link but it's on the BBC News Site.

A new variant of coronavirus has been found which is growing faster in some parts of England, MPs have been told.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said at least 60 different local authorities had recorded Covid infections caused by the new variant.

He said the World Health Organization had been notified and UK scientists were doing detailed studies.

He said there was "nothing to suggest" it caused worse disease or that vaccines would no longer work.

The plan to ease Covid rules over Christmas in the UK is a "rash decision" that will "cost many lives", two leading medical journals have said.

The Health Service Journal and British Medical Journal said people might see the lifting of restrictions "as permission to drop their guard".

In a joint editorial criticising the UK's Christmas rules, the editors of HSJ and BMJ wrote:

They stressed that demand on the NHS was increasing, and added that a new strain of coronavirus "has introduced further potential jeopardy".