Britain said today it would impose further restrictions to tackle the rise of Covid-19 across large parts of central and northern England, preventing multiple households from mixing and hospitality running late in the night.

In new measures due to come into force from Tuesday, people in the north west of England will be told to only use public transport for essential purposes. Hospitality late night operating hours will also be restricted.

England saw around 6,000 new cases of Covid-19 per day in the week up to September 10, almost double the rate of the previous week, according to a new estimate from the Office for National Statistics based on samples of the population.