BRIGHTON and Hove will remain in Tier 2 measures, the health secretary has said.
However, Hastings and Rother will now move up into Tier 3, Matt Hancock said in an announcement this afternoon.
Tier 3 restrictions will see the closure of bars, pubs, and restaurants.
READ MORE: Brighton and Hove coronavirus cases expected to rise 'significantly' in coming days
The council areas of East Sussex, West Sussex, and Brighton and Hove were in tier two restrictions previous to the announcement.
These allow some greater freedoms compared with Tier 3, where all pubs, bars and restaurants would have to close to customers, but could open for takeaways.
From 00:01 Saturday December 19 - the following areas will be placed into tier three:
- Bedfordshire
- Buckinghamshire
- Berkshire
- Peterborough
- The whole of Hertfordshire
- Surrey, except Waverley
- Hastings and Rother
- Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant
It comes after infection rates in Hastings trebled in seven days according to Public Health England figures.
They have risen from 114.4 cases per 100,000 people in the population on December 2 to 372.3 cases per 100,000 to December 9.
Meanwhile rates in Crawley and Worthing doubled in the same time frame.
Cases rose from 41.8 per 100,000 to 102.3 per 100,000 in Crawley while in Worthing the rent went from 25.3 per 100,000 to 58.8 per 100,000.
Matt Hancock said case rates in the south of England are up 46 per cent 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.”
READ MORE: Brighton and Hove coronavirus cases expected to rise 'significantly' in coming days
The MP for Brighton Kemptown is warning residents after Matt Hancock announced the latest update to the regional tier system.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle said: "We knew yesterday that Hastings and Rother would most likely enter Tier 3. What we did not know is whether the government would take a “whole of Sussex” approach, or whether it would just be Hastings and Rother.
"People of Brighton and Hove should be warned. Hastings had the lowest amount of contractions in the country a few weeks ago and this virus is spreading westward.
"It’s coming towards Brighton, Worthing and Peacehaven unless we’re extremely vigilant and consider our day-to-day activities."
The MP for Hove and Portslade believes remaining at Tier 2 was the right decision.
Peter Kyle said: "We can see the threat Covid continues to pose.
"It’s creeping across Sussex and even though we’re rightly maintaining our tier status in Brighton and Hove, we must be more vigilant than ever.
"Let’s keep a lid on this and get to the finish line with our economy as unscathed as possible."
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