Pubs, restaurants, and cinemas will be among the places forced to close when new tier restrictions come into force on Wednesday.

Four parts of Hertfordshire will move into Tier 3 - Watford, Hertsmere, Three Rivers, and Broxbourne, along with the whole of London.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there had been "very sharp, exponential rises" in cases.

Cases have been rising across the whole of Watford as well as in Bushey in Hertsmere, and some parts of Three Rivers district.

From 12.01am on Wednesday, residents in those four areas will have to abide by new Tier 3 restrictions.

The rest of the county will stay in Tier 2 for now.

This is everything you need to know about Tier 3.

  • Groups of six only in outdoor public spaces, such as parks and sports courts – but not in private gardens.
  • Hospitality, like restaurants and pubs, will be closed except for takeaway and delivery
  • Indoor entertainment venues – such as cinemas, theatres, bowling alleys and casinos - closed.
  • Gyms and hairdressers will stay open, along with all shops including non-essential
  • People must avoid travelling outside of a Tier 3 area other than where "necessary".
  • No overnight stays permitted outside the local area, except for work or education, with accommodation to stay closed.
  • Weddings and civil partnerships can continue but with only 15 guests, increasing to 30 for funerals. Wedding receptions are banned in Tier 3.
  • Places of worship can stay open, but people must not interact with anyone outside their household or support bubble.
  • Classes and organised adult sport can continue to take place outdoors, but people are advised to avoid higher-risk contact activity.
  • Stadiums will close to supporters

Leader of Hertfordshire County Council, David Williams, issued the following statement this afternoon.

He said: “We recognise the concerns that this escalation will prompt with both residents and businesses and the additional restrictions and tougher rules that this involves. The Government has taken this decision in response to the very significant increase in case numbers across the county and due to the proximity of these four district areas to north London and Essex where infection rates have also been growing significantly.

“In recent weeks we have been stressing the crucial importance of everyone in Hertfordshire following the rules and guidance around social contact and distancing, wearing face-coverings when required and washing your hands regularly. The message remains clear – we must all stay disciplined and stick to the guidance and rules if we are to improve the situation in Hertfordshire.

“We must all now redouble these efforts, particularly as we all plan for how we will follow the rules over the Christmas and New Year period including, the ‘Christmas bubble’ guidance. We must all keep playing our part to help reduce the number of cases in the county, so we can ultimately work towards returning to the type of lives we enjoyed before the pandemic.

“We are developing plans to significantly increase testing capacities across the county to try and identify more people who may be COVID-positive but asymptomatic and therefore inadvertently spreading the virus.

“We are also very pleased to see the start of the rollout of the vaccine; this is hugely significant in the battle to prevent the virus from circulating. However, we must not let our guard down and become complacent as a result of these developments.”