Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, is set to make a statement on the government's fortnightly tier review later today, less than a week after Cheshire was put into Tier 3.

On the day that the decision was made to move the county up from Tier 2, Cheshire West's infection rate stood at 213 cases per 100,000 residents.

It has now risen to 266.4 per 100,000, but is still lower than the UK average of 381.5 per 100,000.

Cheshire West is therefore not listed as one of the areas at risk of being placed under Tier 4 restrictions, but what criteria will the government use to decide?

• Case rates across all age groups.

This takes into account the total number of cases, their distribution, and whether they are rising or falling.

• The rate at which cases are rising or falling

The government will consider how quickly infection numbers are increasing or decreasing, and also take into account the R rate for the area.

• Case rates in the over-60s

This is because people over 60 years of age typically suffer more severe coronavirus symptoms.

• The positivity rate

This is the proportion of coronavirus tests that come back positive. A higher percentage means a higher prevalence of Covid in that area.

• Pressure on the NHS

This includes an assessment of local NHS service capacity, hospital admissions and beds given over to Covid patients.

In the week leading up to December 20th, 61 patients were admitted to the Countess of Chester Hospital with coronavirus: the same number as the previous week.