Tiers Throughout the UK on New Year's Eve

The Covid-19 pandemic (with its new variant) is creating a toxic ending to 2020 in many parts of the UK. Covid-19 patients in English hospitals have now reached almost 22,000, a higher figure than in the first wave of viral infections. This was easily predicted, given the 'Christmas truce' that went unrecognised by the virus. It has just been announced that 75% of the English population will end the year in tier 4 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/30/covid-millions-more-in-england-to-enter-tier-4). Tier 4 has currently the highest levels of restriction (some people are advocating, an even more restrictive, tier 5). People in tier 4 are instructed to, where possible, stay at home; only meet 1 to 1 outdoors and only have access to essential (largely food) shops. Millions of people in Greater Manchester, the North-east and large parts of the Midlands and South-west are being moved to this highest tier. One should note that Northern Ireland, mainland Scotland and Wales already have highly restrictive rule (although they don't use the tier system). It will be interesting to see how closely people stick to the rules in their areas. There are at least signs of a belated understanding of the seriousness of the situation, with news that the returns of pupils to secondary schools (in England) and students to university (more generally), will both be delayed. Who would have guessed?