NEW coronavirus restrictions will come into effect today, with officials reviewing tier ratings for each area every fortnight.

Bolton will be placed into the toughest restrictions, in Tier 3, until at least December 16.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed that 99 per cent of England will initially be in Tier 2 or Tier 3, but some areas could change before Christmas.

A graph released by Public Health England, showing which areas are closest to the thresholds between tiers, does not currently show Greater Manchester as one of the most likely areas to change tier.

Cllr Nick Peel, Labour leader in Bolton, thinks coming out of Tier 3 restrictions too early would devastate the borough.

He said: "Where the government have failed has been releasing restrictions too quickly – people might have been happy at the time but it's worth the pain in the short term to have a long term benefit.

"What we're seeing is a rollercoaster, we came out of the first lockdown too quickly and that directly led to the second lockdown, which we've also come out off too quickly."

Five factors will decide what restrictions are needed, such as the rate of change in cases, the positivity rate of tests, and the pressure on the NHS.

Based on the current data, Greater Manchester is not one of the areas most likely to change tiers before Christmas, meaning hospitality venues can't open.

However, Cllr Peel thinks venues should be able to open in any tier.

He said: "I don't believe that all hospitality venues should close in Tier 3. If local authorities are given the promised powers to close any offending businesses then it does make it possible for them to operate.

"You've got hospitality, which only accounts for a very small amount of infections, closed completely whilst household transmission is by far the biggest cause of cases and a free for all is given at Christmas.

"The amnesty will lead to a new spike in January – just extending the pain for many."

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof John Edmunds, a member of the SAGE advisory committee, said he thinks it is unlikely that any areas will change Tier before Christmas.

He commented, “I think that is quite an early time to be able to see what the effect has been. For me I think that is quite an early review stage. I can’t imagine there will be huge changes at that point just simply because I don’t think we will have accumulated much data by then.”