Cheshire East will move into the tightest Covid-19 restrictions from tomorrow, Matt Hancock has confirmed.

Speaking to the House of Commons this afternoon (Wednesday, December 30), the Health Secretary outlined that both Cheshire West and Cheshire East are to move from Tier 3 to Tier 4 controls.

Mr Hancock said: "We must act to surpress the virus now. While we have the good news of the vaccine today, there are over 21,00 people in hospital with Covid-19 right now.

"The threat to life is real. This new variant is now spreading across England."

Tier 4, which comes into effect at 12:01am tomorrow morning, means a 'Stay At Home' alert level is in place, with non-essential retail stores closing, and residents can only see one other person from another household outdoors.

Neighbouring Cheshire West, Warrington and Greater Manchester will also move up to Tier 4.

The Cheshire boroughs have seen rises in their infection rates climb rapidly in the past week — from 167.6 to 238.4 per 100,000 people in Cheshire East, and from 205.9 to 266.4 per 100,000 people in Cheshire West.

Furthermore, the region's latest hospital data — from 9am on December 23 — shows a week-on-week rise in the number of Covid-19 admissions in two out of the three hospital trusts in Cheshire East and West.

East Cheshire NHS Trust – including Macclesfield Hospital – had 76 coronavirus patients, with one on ventilation, while the Countess of Chester had 12 on ventilation of its 142 patients.

At that time, Mid Cheshire Hospitals – including Leighton – had 109 Covid patients with eight on ventilation.

One week earlier, Mid Cheshire Hospitals had 75 Covid patients in total, East Cheshire Trust had 66 and the Countess had 151.

The move is the second change for the Cheshire and Warrington sub-region in a matter of days, with Mr Hancock announcing its move from Tier 2 to Tier 3 on December 23 — which came into force on Boxing Day — before revealing the latest changes.