Herts police have issued an appeal for people to follow the new lockdown guidelines.

As a new country-wide lockdown starts after PM Boris Johnson's address to the nation on Monday evening, Herts Constabulary are asking for everyone to pull together, respect the new regulations and follow the rules.

Under the new measures, support and childcare bubbles continue, people can meet one person from another household for outdoor exercise but exercise should be local and limited to once a day.

Chief superintendent Matt Nicholls, of Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: "While this new national lockdown will be hard, I know that people will want to do what they can to protect public health and the health of their loved ones.

"Legally, the new regulations have yet to come into force, but existing enforcement powers are in place and we ask residents to do the right thing.

"None of us can ignore the fact that cases have been rising sharply across the county and the lockdown is in place to save lives.

"Please follow the rules to protect our NHS and help save lives."

Additional police patrols continue with officers working with council Covid marshals, environmental health and trading standards officers to ensure that communities are behaving responsibly.

Anyone found to be knowingly breaking the rules can expect to receive a fixed penalty notice.

The 'stay at home' instruction means staying at home except for a handful of permitted reasons.

The rules will be reviewed on Monday, February 15.