The Government has announced this afternoon that the whole of the North East and Cumbria will be placed in tier four Covid restrictions from midnight.
More information can be found here:
In addition, the reopening of secondary schools after Christmas will be further delayed. Exam year students (Years 11 and 13) will return on January 11, with other secondary school students to follow a week later on January 18.
The majority of primary schools will open as planned on January 4, but some primary schools in areas with the highest rates of coronavirus will not open on that date.
More information here: