Table 1.

A summary of the UK ‘tiered’ restrictions that were implemented from October 2020 to early January 2021

Tier	Mixing	Bars, pubs and restaurants	Retail, indoor leisure, accommodation, personal care, entertainment, places of worship	Education	Travel	Weddings and funerals	Exercise	Residential home visits	Large sporting events, live performance and business meetings
Tier 1 (Medium alert)	Maximum of six indoors or outdoors, apart from with members of a single household or support bubble	Bars, pubs and restaurants must be table service only, stop taking orders at 10pm, close by 11pm	Open	Schools and universities open	Travelling possible but avoid going to Tier 3 areas Overnight stays permitted with household, support bubble or up to 6 people	15 guests for weddings and 30 for funerals	Permitted but maximum of six indoors	Indoor visits limited to two people from a Tier 1 area with social distancing, no physical contact, PPE use and good hand hygiene	Limited to 50% capacity of 4,000 people outdoors (whichever is lower) and 50% capacity or 1,000 people indoors (whichever is lower)
Tier 2 (High alert)	No mixing of households indoors, apart from support bubbles. Maximum of six outdoors	Pubs and bars must close. Restaurants can only serve alcohol with meals. Venues must stop taking orders at 10pm, close by 11pm	Open	Schools and universities open	Reduce travelling if possible. Avoid entering a Tier 3 area	15 guests for weddings and 30 for funerals	Classes and organised sport can take place outdoors, but not indoors	Outdoor/airtight visits only	Limited to 50% capacity or 2000 people outdoors (whichever is lower) and 40% capacity or 1000 people indoors (whoever is lower)
Tier 3	No mixing of households indoors, apart from support bubbles. Maximum of six outdoors	Hospitality is closed, with exception of sales by takeaway, drive-through or delivery	Retail, indoor leisure, personal care and places of worship open. Entertainment venues, accommodation closed	Schools and universities open	Overnight stays advised to be avoided. Avoid travelling outside own area if possible	15 guests for weddings and 30 for funerals	Classes and organised adult sport can date place outdoors only	Outdoor/airtight visits only	Events should not take place; drive-in events permitted
Tier 4	No household mixing, apart from support bubbles. Maximum of two people mixing outdoors	Hospitality is closed, with exception of sales by takeaway, drive-through or delivery	Essential shops open only; all other venues closed. Places of worship open for private prayer and communal worship	Schools and universities open	Overnight stays must be avoided. Travel is only permitted for work or education. Must not leave a Tier 4 area	Selected funerals of up to 30 people permitted only	Exercise is permitted on an individual basis only, with household or support bubble or with one person from another household	Outdoor/airtight visits only, Clinically extremely vulnerable advised to stay home as much as possible, except to go outdoors for exercise or to attend health appointments	Events should not take place
Lockdown Regulations in March 2020 – July 2020	No mixing of household until 13 June 2020, when support bubbles were instigated	All closed	All closed apart from essential shops. Outdoor non-food markets can reopen	All closed	Overnight stays not permitted	Only certain funerals permitted	Outdoor exercise alone or with other members of the household permitted only	Not permitted; 13 June rules were relaxed to allow some to visit care homes	Events should not take place
Lockdown Regulations in January 2021	No mixing of households, apart from support bubbles	Hospitality is closed, with exception of sales by takeaway, drive-through or delivery	All closed apart from essential shops. Places of worship open for private prayer and communal worship	Schools open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers. Universities open for students in medicine/dentistry/health/social work/veterinary science/education	Overnight stays must be avoided Travel is only permitted for work or education	Funerals allowed, maximum of 30 people. Weddings allowed for 6 people	Outdoor exercise alone or with other members of the household permitted only	Care home visits can take place with arrangements such as substantial screens, visiting pods or behind windows	Events should not take place