Mcb777 LoginNorth East will be plunged into coronavirus lockdown at MIDNIGHT with '10pm pub curfew and household ban' | The Sun - Mcb777 Login

THE North East is set to be plunged into lockdown from midnight tonight with a reported 10pm pub curfew and households banned from mixing.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick confirmed large parts of the region will be hit with tighter coronavirus lockdown restrictions from Friday, but they have yet to be confirmed.

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Robert Jenrick told ITV that large parts of the region will go into lockdown from midnight tonightCredit: ITV

The measures - which affect around 2million people - would include a 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants, The Telegraph reports.

Different households are set to be banned from mixing apart from at schools, work and university.

According to , people will also be urged not to go on holiday with different households and spectators will be advised not to attend sporting venues.

The restrictions will apply to Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland after a rise in cases.

Mr Jenrick told ITV's Robert Peston on Wednesday: "The number of cases has been rising rapidly in many parts of the country but in particular in the North East and so a decision has been made to impose further restrictions there.

"A full announcement will be made tomorrow (Thursday) and so people living in that country should watch out for that.

He added: "The measures will come into play at midnight on Thursday evening so over the course of the day a full briefing will made available to everybody including the councils and business community in that area."

LOCK OF THE NORTH

Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said "additional, temporary" measures are being planned to prevent another full lockdown.

He told the BBC this morning:

"The evidence we've found from local testing is that it's spreading in three main areas: in pubs, in people's homes and in grassroots sports," he said."So [council leaders] have put together a series of requests to government for additional restrictions around these areas for a fixed period of time to try to prevent a damaging full lockdown."

One Twitter user asked when the announcement would be made, adding that the "uncertainty creates lots of anxiety for people".

He replied: "We are waiting confirmation from Government on the final version of the regulations; I am expecting an announcement by the Health Secretary at 11am tomorrow."

LOCAL CRACKDOWN

It comes after Boris Johnson hinted yesterday afternoon at another national lockdown - but stressed he didn't want to have to go there.

And in an exclusive interview with The Sun, PM warned that only tough love will flatten a second camel-like hump on Britain’s coronavirus graph and save Christmas.

He gave his stark message as he told Sun readers that further curfew measures, such as shutting pubs at 10pm, will be needed if his “rule of six” is not obeyed.

Liverpool is another one of the latest cities reportedly set for a lockdown and may see pubs and restaurants become takeaways.

The city has seen soaring coronavirus rates, with 106.4 cases per 100,000 people.

Mayor Joe Anderson said today he expects new restrictions to be brought in this week.

Meanwhile the Welsh Government confirmed the Rhondda Cynon Taf area of south Wales would face local restrictions from 6pm on Thursday following a rapid rise in cases.

All licensed pubs, bars and restaurants in the area will also have to close at 11pm and no one will be allowed to enter or leave the area without reasonable excuse.

The most recent figures show Newcastle to have recorded a sharp increase in its weekly rate, up from 51.2 to 64.1, with 194 new cases in the seven days to September 13.

Local measures in the likes of Greater Manchester and Birmingham have already been put in place in a bid to address rising rates of infection.

The UK had almost 4,000 new cases of coronavirus today and 20 new deaths.