The Liverpool City Region will be brought under strict Tier 3 coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to spell out his three-tier strategy on Monday with areas in England labelled as medium, high or very high risk, which will inform the "appropriate interventions" needed in each area.
However, leaders in Merseyside confirmed in a joint statement this morning tier three will apply to Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Halton.
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said discussions on new measures expected to be announced today had been going on "all night".
He told BBC Breakfast: "We're still continuing to try and find the fine detail that will give us some comfort that, one, we can go to our nearly two million residents in the Liverpool city region and explain to them what it is that we've negotiated on their behalf, but also we wanted some surety from the national government that if we hit some of the milestones we can come out of Tier 3 very quickly."
How long will restrictions last for?
The Metro Mayor said there is a "sunset clause" after four weeks of restrictions, measuring progress, but the meaning of that is not yet known.
He said: "We want to know what are those measures, how can we ensure that we measure progress against them and how quickly can we come out the other side?"
He added: "I think that they (the Government) haven't yet bottomed out all of the detail."
What is closing?
Pubs, bars, gyms, betting shops, casinos, and adult gaming centres across Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Halton will close.
Mayor Rotheram said officials had asked the Government what the definition of and differentiation between a restaurant and gastropub is in terms of where will have to close.
He told BBC Breakfast: "That's something that the Government are still working the details of. I think you'd have to ask them for the details of what they believe the difference is because it did confuse some of us."
Asked about the closure of gyms, he said: "It would appear to me that some of these things - we asked for the evidence of course - some of these things are a judgment call.
"Our directors of public health have looked at this and they didn't push back greatly against the list (of places to close) and all we need to do now is if the Government can provide us with that scientific evidence that says that there are some outbreaks in gyms and other things that are on the list then we have to accept that.
"If not, of course, we'll be asking for them to release those restrictions as soon as they possibly can."
What else should we know?
Leaders across the Liverpool City Region also revealed the Army is being drafted in and the region is to receive a six-month package of financial government support as part of the Tier 3 restrictions.
