Italy and Australia announce new lockdowns; France death toll surpasses 60,000; Sweden introduces tough new measures
- PM announces ‘tier 4’ curbs and curtails Christmas mixing in England
- New strain in south-east England prompts fears of third lockdown
- Covid cases in India reach 10m as country plans vaccination programme
- Italy to go into Covid lockdown over festive period
8.15pm GMT
Under tier 4 restrictions, non-essential shops, hairdressers and leisure and entertainment venues will close, with a new “stay at home” message introduced.
Related: Covid tier 4: what are the new restrictions for London and south-east England?
7.39pm GMT
Here’s more from the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, who said he was “really frustrated” following the announcement that Christmas would be cancelled for many families across the UK.
The infection rates are going up very, very fast and so something has to be done, and we support the steps the government has put in place but millions of families are going to be heartbroken by this news – having their Christmas plans ripped up.
I’m really frustrated because I raised this with the prime minister on Wednesday and he dismissed that and went on to tell people to have a merry little Christmas – only three days later to rip up their plans.
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