Nottinghamshire expected to enter tier 3 Covid restrictions on Friday

The whole of Nottinghamshire is expected to enter England’s strictest coronavirus restrictions by the end of the week.

It is understood that pubs, bars and other venues will be forced to close across the Midlands county from Friday. It had been thought that only the city of Nottingham and three other council areas would enter tier 3 this week, but rising infection rates mean this has been expanded to the whole of Nottinghamshire, a region of more than 828,000 people.

It means that more than 8.2 million people in England – or one in seven people – will probably be living under the country’s tightest restrictions by the end of the week.

Jason Zadrozny, the leader of Ashfield district council, told Nottinghamshire Live that the tier 3 restrictions would last for 28 days from Friday morning.

He added: “It wasn’t really a consultation or asking what we are OK with, it was them telling us that we are doing it. The [clinical commissioning group] and health leaders were pressing that if they don’t get a grip on the curve then hospitals won’t have capacity to cope.”