Matt Hancock announced changes to the tier system today, with many areas remaining under the strictest measures to help combat coronavirus.
The Health Secretary s aid: "We've come so far, we mustn't blow it now.
"Across the world cases are rising, yesterday welsh govt made decision to implement further restrictions.
"We need to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed, so we will be implementing Tier 3 restrictions across a much wider area of England."
Large parts of the East and South East were put into Tier 3 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..
Mr Hancock also moved some areas down a tier.
Bristol and North Somerset will go into Tier 2 on Saturday and Herefordshire will move into Tier one
Liverpool remained in Tier 2 as cases remain lower in Merseyside than in other parts of the country.
Warrington and Cheshire also remained in Tier 2, meaning pubs and restaurants are able to remain open alongside leisure venues.
But areas nearby to Liverpool such as West Lancashire and Wigan remained in Tier 3, which brings harsh restrictions.
With Christmas around the corner many people will be wanting to meet-up with family and friends and could be planning to travel to a Tier 3 area over the festive season.
Following today's announcement we decided to take a look at what the rules are on travelling between tiers at Christmas.
Can I travel to Tier 3 at Christmas?
Boris Johnson came under fire yesterday as he refused to make a u-turn on the plans for Christmas despite rising Covid-19 cases.
The Prime Minister said the laws around Christmas would remain the same, but urged people to think about having a "smaller, shorter, local and safe" Christmas.
The Prime Minister told people to "have a merry little Christmas - and I'm afraid this year I really do mean little".
While Mr Johnson said "we don't want to criminalise people's long-made plans", he warned people should be "extremely cautious" when mixing next week and should minimise contacts in the days leading up to Christmas.
Under the tier system people are discouraged from travelling to a Tier 3 area unless it's "essential" such as for work or a medical need.
The government rules for travel in Tier 3 state: "Avoid travelling outside of your area, including for overnight stays other than where necessary, such as for work, education, youth services, to receive medical treatment, or because of caring responsibilities.
"You can travel through other areas as part of a longer journey."
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But the Christmas laws state that between 23-27 December you can form a "Christmas bubble" with people from three households.
And under the Christmas laws people are allowed to travel between tiers and UK nations to meet your Christmas bubble.
But you can only meet your bubble in homes, places of worship or public outdoor spaces and not in pubs or restaurants.
And the tier restrictions will still apply over the Christmas period and pubs, bars and restaurants will still have to be closed in Tier 3 areas.
