Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told MPs Tier 3 restrictions will be extended across a wide area of East and South East England.

It was announced Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, Hertfordshire and Surrey will be moving into Tier 3 from Saturday.

Matt Hancock said case rates in the south of England are up 46% in the last week while hospital admissions are up by more than a third, adding in the east of England cases are up two thirds and hospital admissions up by nearly half in the last week.

He told the Commons: “It is therefore necessary to apply Tier 3 measures across a much wider area of the east and south east of England, including Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, the whole of Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.”

The  “vast majority” of places in Tier 3 restrictions will not be changed, but Hancock added: “In Bristol and North Somerset rates have come down from 432 per 100,000 to 121 and falling.

“Bristol and North Somerset will come out of Tier 3 into Tier 2 on Saturday.

“Rates in Herefordshire have also come down to 45 in 100,000 and are falling, and we can therefore bring Herefordshire out of Tier 2 and into Tier 1.”

The update on the tier system comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the nation on Wednesday urging the country to "have a merry little Christmas - and I do mean little."

Speaking to the commons Matt Hancock said the UK has “come so far” and “mustn’t blow it now”.

Making a statement in the Commons, Mr Hancock told MPs: “As we enter the coldest months we must be vigilant and keep this virus under control.

“Yesterday 25,161 cases were reported and there are 18,038 people in hospital with coronavirus in the UK. We must keep supressing this virus.

“And this isn’t just a matter for Government or for this House, it is a matter for every single person and these are always the most difficult months for people’s health and for the NHS.

“And especially with the vaccine already here, we must be cautious as we accelerate the vaccine deployment as per The Winter Plan.

“We’ve come so far, we mustn’t blow it now.”