More than 27,000,000 people now in highest risk Covid categories

More than half of the population of England are set to be in either tier 2 or 3 of the governments coronavirus alert system.

Tier 1 represents a “medium” risk, tier 2 is “high,” and tier 3 is “very high.” If coronavirus levels get out of control in parts of England, then the government could impose higher measures such as “stay at home” across regions that are highly affected or impose a second national lockdown.

The population of England currently stands at 67,886,011, and Liverpool which has a population of 1.6m is currently the only city in the “very high” tier 3 alert system.

Across England a further 26.7m people will now be subjected to the “high” tier 2 coronavirus alert system.

Professor Chris Whitty the chief medical officer for England warned on Monday that he is “not confident” over the “base case” of the tier 3 proposals “would be enough to get on top of” the virus.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that most areas which were already subject to local restriction will placed into tier 2.

As of Thursday morning, areas in Tier 2 include Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Tees Valley, West Midlands, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

London, Essex, Elmbridge, Barrow-in-Furness, York, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Erewash will move to Tier 2 from one-minute past midnight on Saturday.

Currently there are 28m people who are currently in tier 1, and people are being advised to avoid travelling to a tier 3 area.