Another new variant is in the UK, Hancock 🔴 @BBCNews live - BBC

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UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock led a Downing Street press conference at around 15:00 GMT, joined by deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries and Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England.

Matt Hancock acknowledged that 2020 had been "a hard year" and despite all our efforts, the new variant of Covid-19 made further action "difficult but necessary".

Here's what we learned at the press conference:

* Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire will move into tier four - meaning they will be under England's toughest restrictions - from 00:01 GMT on Boxing Day

* The parts of Essex not currently in tier four, along with Waverley in Surrey, and Hampshire - including Portsmouth and Southampton but not the New Forest - will also be escalated to tier four

* Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset (including North Somerset), Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire, as well as Cheshire and Warrington, will move to tier three

* Cornwall and Herefordshire, which "have seen sharply rising rates", will enter tier three restrictions

* Covid cases have risen by 57% over the past week and hospital admissions are at 1,909 a day - the highest figure since mid-April

* Two cases of another new variant of coronavirus have come to light in the UK. Both patients had contacts who travelled from South Africa; they are currently in quarantine. New restrictions will be imposed on travellers from South Africa to the UK - and their contacts

* Vaccinations have begun for residents in care homes. In addition, care home staff will receive two rapid tests a week alongside their weekly PCR tests

* The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has submitted its full data package to the MHRA for approval

* Mr Hancock said everyone will be vaccinated "as fast as we possibly can"

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BBC News Live | Coronavirus Press Conference | UK Government Press Briefing | BBC

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