Major new lockdown measures have been announced for a large area of England
The measures have been announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock and cover Greater Manchester, parts of West Yorkshire and East Lancashire.
People from different households will not be allowed to meet inside from midnight on Friday in those areas.
Mr Hancock said he was taking the action with “a heavy heart” but that he had been left with no choice by increases in the rates of coronavirus.
“We are constantly vigilant. We have been looking at the data and unfortunately we’ve seen across parts of northern England an increase in the number of cases of coronavirus,” he said.
“We’ve decided that we need to take action across Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire.
“So from midnight tonight, we are banning households meeting up indoors.
“We take this action with a heavy heart but unfortunately it is necessary to keep the country safe.”
The increase in coronavirus cases had been partly sparked by people meeting up indoors and “not abiding by the social distancing rules”, he added.
“We are having to bring in firm action and say that two hosueholds cannot meet indoors because that way we can help to stop the spread of the virus.
“We’ve got to bring this in straightaway because we could see those numbers increasing and we need to keep control of this virus.”
