BURY will remain in Tier 3, the Health Secretary has announced.

Matt Hancock lifted only three areas out of the toughest alert level during a speech to the House of Commons this afternoon, and Greater Manchester was not one of them.

He said the UK has “come so far” and “mustn’t blow it now”.

More areas were placed in tier 3.

Mr Hancock said: "Yesterday we held the first formal review into the restrictions.

"Across the world cases are rising once more, restrictions are coming in again across Europe.

"No one wants tougher restrictions any longer than necessary.

"We want to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. Even in normal years this is the busiest time for the NHS."

He 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.”

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.”