Staffordshire Moorlands, along with the rest of Staffordshire and many other areas of England, is now subject to the highest Tier 4 restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus.
This means that people must stay at home, except for essential reasons such as work, education and food shopping, and that they must not meet indoors with anyone they don’t live with or are in a support bubble with.
It is now only permitted to meet one other person outdoors and non-essential retail and personal care services must close.
Councillor Sybil Ralphs, Leader of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, said: “This will come as particularly unwelcome news at the start of the New Year when we have all made so many sacrifices over the last year.
“But the rapid rise in cases across the country, linked to the new variant, show that Covid remains a very real threat to us and our loved ones so we must continue our efforts and follow these stricter rules closely to protect ourselves and those we care about.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine roll out now underway so 2021 looks set to be brighter than the year that has just ended but we must not let down our guard just yet.
“Let’s show our strength and do what we can to stop this virus spreading in our communities so we can start to see a return to the things we’ve missed sooner rather than later.”
You can find out more about the Tier 4 restrictions at www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-4-stay-at-home
There’s more information about the support available to Moorlands residents and business at www.staffsmoorlands.gov.uk/Coronavirus
