As of today, Warwickshire has moved into Tier 4 along with neighbouring authorities in the West Midlands, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. Sadly, the Tier 3 restrictions so far have not been sufficient to bring the virus under control, a situation seen across the country in areas that have now moved into the highest tier. Details on what Tier 4 entails can be seen in the graphic below.

This is extremely bad news for individuals and businesses in Warwickshire and other affected parts of the country. But the situation is not without hope; far from it. Vaccinations have begun in earnest across the county and country, and thanks to yesterday’s fantastic news that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved, the programme can now be accelerated considerably.

This is unquestionably the route out of all these restrictions and back to normality, but for the time being at least these restrictions are here to stay. We are tantalisingly close to the end of this dark period and we cannot afford to fall at this very last hurdle now. We must all therefore continue to follow the restrictions to keep the virus at bay until we can safely relax the rules.

It’s in this spirit of hope for some normality in the near future that I wish everyone a very happy New Year and much better, freer and more prosperous 2021.