South Yorkshire is poised to move to Tier 3 lockdown with an announcement "later this morning", a Tory minister has said.
The region including Sheffield would become England's fourth to have its pubs and bars shut down after Liverpool City Region, Lancashire and Greater Manchester.
People would also be banned from meeting other households indoors or in gardens, and would be strongly advised against travelling in or out of the area.
Pubs and bars would still be able to operate until 10pm if they could run as a restaurant, serving "substantial" meals.
Tory Robert Jenrick said there were "very productive discussions" with Dan Jarvis, mayor of the Sheffield City Region, which he hoped would conclude this morning.
The Communities Secretary told Sky News: "I hope we’re on the cusp of an agreement for South Yorkshire."
A source in the region confirmed "we’re almost there" on an announcement and talks had been "constructive", although there were still some issues to "iron out" in talks this morning.
Asked if the region would move into Tier 3, Mr Jenrick replied: "It’s not right for me to pre-empt a full statement that the Prime Minister and Dan Jarvis will make later today.
"But we have had very successful conversations with him and the leaders of South Yorkshire.
"Again there’s a serious situation there and rightly they want to take action.
"We discussed that over the course of yesterday and early this morning and an announcement will be made shortly."
He later said the announcement would be "later this morning".
Mr Jarvis had previously warned on Monday that the government still had to offer more support for businesses and workers.
It is not clear that the government has done so, given it abandoned talks about such support in Greater Manchester in a row over £5m.
Mr Jarvis tweeted on Monday: "Our Council leaders and I stand ready to work with Govt.
"But they have to offer the support we need to protect lives and livelihoods in South Yorkshire.
"They haven’t done that yet."
Today Mr Jenrick claimed the funding for South Yorkshire would be "proportionate" to what was given to Lancashire and Liverpool City Region - but not to what Greater Manchester asked for yesterday.
It comes after Greater Manchester was forced into a Tier 3 lockdown against its will, starting Friday, when Downing Street walked out of talks in a spat over just £5million.
A furious row erupted last night when Mr Jenrick abandoned negotiations - refusing to provide disputed funds for the stricken region.
Metro mayor Andy Burnham accused the government of "playing poker with people's lives" and a "deliberate act of levelling down.”
He revealed he had asked for pot of £90m to help stricken workers and businesses, on top of a standard £22m pot for testing and tracing and local communications.
In negotiations he cut the plea for that second pot to £75m, then £65m - but the government would only offer £60m, which he said was not enough.
And after talks fell through, Boris Johnson last night said the region will for now be given only the £22m that was originally on the table.
Mr Jenrick today insisted the £60m offer was "there" and "it's got Manchester’s name on it". But the top Tory said he would offer it to local councils, bypassing Mr Burnham.
It's thought the most intensive talks about moving into Tier 3 are ongoing with Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and West Yorkshire.
But the North East of England looks set to be spared a Tier 3 lockdown for now after cases rates began to fall and leaders told the government to "sod off".
Latest figures show case rates have fallen in the last week in five out of seven North East councils that were forced into toughest local lockdown rules last month.
No10 also said the R rate in the region had "begun to fall", although measures would be kept under review.
Newcastle's new cases fell from 545 per 100,000 in the week to October 8, to 348 per 100,000 in the week to October 15.
In the same period Gateshead's fell from 275 to 237, Northumberland from 195 to 171, South Tyneside from 276 to 229, and North Tyneside from 288 to 208.
But cases rose in County Durham from 300 to 350, and in Sunderland from 314 to 316, despite the councils being among the original seven under tougher restrictions.
Cases also rose in Hartlepool (277 to 343) and Darlington (200 to 259).
