Bolton is the latest part of the country to go back into a stronger form of lockdown, with strict new restrictions being put in place to try and stem the spiralling cases in the town.
The Greater Manchester borough is now top of the country's coronavirus infection rates table and Health Secretary Matt Hancock has taken action.
The new measures will require all hospitality venues to close between 10pm and 5am every day.
All hospitality businesses (restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs) will now be restricted to selling food and drink in takeaway form only.
There is also a new ban on mixing outside individual households in public outdoor settings - which will be enforceable by law.
Mr Hancock told the House of Commons: "Unfortunately, after improving for several weeks, we've seen a very significant rise in cases in Bolton.
"The rise in cases in Bolton is partly due to socialising by people in their 20s and 30s. We know this from contact tracing.
"And through our contact tracing system we've identified a number of pubs at which the virus has spread significantly."
Bolton may be top of the table in terms of infections, but parts of our region are seeing cases rise at an alarming rate.
Liverpool and Wirral have both seen a rapid rise in infections in recent days and weeks.
So how close are the two areas to where Bolton currently is and to potentially experiencing lockdown measures?
seven Bolton's 326 cases in the 7 days up until September 5 (the most recent reliable data period) calculated against the town's population of around 285,000 gives an infection rate of around 114 cases per 100,000.
When the same calculation is done with Liverpool's 200 cases in the same period against an estimated population of 500,000 in the city, you get an infection rate of around 40 cases per 100,000.
Wirral's numbers are slightly higher, with 140 infections in the most recent week giving an rate of around 44 per 100,000 when you calculate it with the borough's estimated 320,000 residents.
So the numbers for Liverpool are a way off Bolton at the moment, but health chiefs in both areas will be aware of how quickly numbers have been rising - with increases of more than double the number of infections in recent weeks.
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Clearly if there was a doubling of those numbers for the two areas next week then they would be getting worryingly close to the infection rates we have seen in areas where extra lockdown restrictions have been brought in.
They will also be aware that lesser restrictions were brought in for other parts of Greater Manchester - such as not meeting other households - with lower infection rates than we are now seeing in Bolton.
Today Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram spoke out about his concerns about a potential local lockdown in parts of our region.
He said: "I've been concerned to see a number of big increases in coronavirus cases in parts of the region over the past week. Things might be feeling 'normal again, but this virus has not gone away.
"We've seen how spikes in other parts of the country have led to local lockdowns - with a rowing back of some of the freedoms we have been enjoying. I know this is the last thing we all want, so all of us need to do our part.
"Please, continue to take every precaution you can to stop the spread. Wear a mask, maintain social distance where you can and keep washing your hands.
"Let's look after each other and, above all, stay safe."
