THE Covid tier system, which sees different restrictions across the country, may not be reintroduced after the national lockdown, with the Prime Minister instead exploring national rules.

Boris Johnson said he had not taken a decision on whether there would be a return to the tier system following the lockdown, and a national approach was an option.

He said: “It may be that a national approach, going down the tiers in a national way, might be better this time round, given that the disease is behaving much more nationally.

“If you look at the way the new variant has taken off across the country, it’s a pretty national phenomenon.

“The charts I see, we’re all sort of moving pretty much in the same sort of way, I mean there are a few discrepancies, a few differences, so it may be that we will go for a national approach but there may be an advantage still in some regional differentiation as well. I’m keeping an open mind on that.”

It comes as the picture across the country continues to vary, with door-to-door testing being rolled out in parts of the south after residents test positive for the South African of Covid.

The latest R estimate for England is between 0.7 and 1.0 and remains broadly similar to last week’s figures.

Regional estimates of R and growth rate also remain broadly similar to those published last week. 

In the North-East and Yorkshire, the R rate is between 0.8 and 1.1 - the same as last week - with a growth rate estimate of between minus 3 and plus 2.

Elsewhere, the R estimated to be below 1 in the East of England, London, and the South East. 

All other NHS England regions have an R estimate that spans 1, with the Department for Health and Social Care saying it is "not yet confident that infections are decreasing in these regions".