A new four-week lockdown has begun in England, with people told to stay at home, and non-essential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close.

The new rules , externalban households from mixing indoors or in private gardens, unless in a support bubble.

On Wednesday, MPs backed the new measures which aim to combat a surge in coronavirus cases.

The lockdown replaces the three tiers of regional restrictions that were previously in place across the West Midlands.

Vanessa Pearce
BBC News

Welcome to our live service for Thursday.

We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.

We love to hear from you so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email,Twitter , externaland Facebook., external

Wycombe Wanderers come from behind to claim their second win of the season at the end of an entertaining game at Birmingham.

Lyle Taylor slots home from the penalty spot to give Nottingham Forest victory against Coventry and a first home win of the season.

Andy Giddings
BBC News

We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 tomorrow.

As England prepares to go back into lockdown, the latest official figures show the number of new cases of Covid-19 has gone up again in almost every part of the West Midlands.

Out of 30 local authority areas, only five saw their rate of new infections fall: Cannock Chase, Coventry, Stratford-upon-Avon, Rugby and Herefordshire.

Newcastle-under-Lyme was the worst affected area - 418 new cases per 100,000 people in the week up to 1 November, up from 292.8 in just a week. South Staffordshire followed closely behind.

Herefordshire once again saw the lowest rate in the West Midlands, with 79.4 new cases, down from 90.2.

• How many cases are there in your area.

BBC Weather

It's going to be another cold night, so we could see more frost in the morning.

And tomorrow is forecast to be pretty similar today, with light cloud, a light breeze and temperatures no higher than 10C (50F).

Image source, RuthieRoo

Wolverhampton City Council is warning it could be forced to make cuts of more than £23m next year, unless there's further financial support from the government

A report due before the council’s cabinet committee next week said the impact of the coronavirus had “significantly distorted” the local authority's financial position.

Image source, Google

The report acknowledged £26.1m had been provided by government so far, but said the council urgently needed to know what future funding would be available.

A council report in February said the net budget requirement for 2020-2021 was £248.2m.

MPs have backed a four-week lockdown in England to combat coronavirus, which will kick in at midnight.

Boris Johnson saw off a rebellion by 34 Tory MPs opposed to the move, with the support of Labour.

Image source, UK Parliament

None of the rebels were from the West Midlands, much of which has been under tier two restrictionsin recent weeks.

Speaking this afternoon in the debate in the House of Commons, Jeremy Wright, Conservative MP for Kenilworth and Southam, said he backed a second lockdown, saying a decision "with damaging consequences" needed to be taken to avoid an outcome with "devastating consequences".

However, he said the country needed to be mindful it may be living with coronavirus for some time and a long-term plan was needed.

Premiership rugby clubs return 17 positive Covid-19 tests from 718 players and management in the latest round of pre-season testing.

A new hotel in Coventry that was due to open to guests on 18 November has had to put that on hold because of the coronavirus lockdown.

The Telegraph Hotel said £15m had been spent to transform the former Coventry Telegraph headquarters.

It now has 88 rooms, two board rooms, a restaurant, two bars, a conference suite and a library of post war design and newspaper heritage.

There is so far no rescheduled date for the grand opening.

The city is expecting an extra 2.5 million visitors when it becomes the UK City of Culture next year and the city council said it was looking at ways to accommodate them.

Fifteen spin bikes have been taken from two leisure centres in South Staffordshire.

The police said 13 of the bikes, valued at £2,000 each, were taken from Wombourne Leisure Centre at the end of last month.

The other two, valued at £1,500 each, were taken from Codsall Leisure Centre last weekend.

Image source, Google

In both raids the thieves were seen on CCTV in white or light-coloured vans.

Staffordshire Police said both leisure centres are "secure buildings" and advised other businesses in the area to "have the necessary security in place."

Beavers are released in Cheshire, returning them to the area for the first time in more than 400 years.

Two more coronavirus testing stations are due to open in Telford tomorrow, bringing the total to seven.

The new ones will be based at the Donnington Wood Bowling Club and Legges Way Car Park in Madeley.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier this autumn people had to be turned away from the Ironbridge testing site when the queues became too long, but Telford and Wrekin Council said the area now has "plenty of testing capacity".

It also said an improvement in turnaround times means people should get their results a lot more quickly.

The Brierley Hill restaurant launched on Tuesday but closes again Wednesday due to restrictions.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Here are three of the stories from the Stoke Sentinel's website today:

• Boy arrested for attempted murder, external
• Man's body found in coffee shop toilets, external
• Burglar ransacks elderly man's home, external

Amora escaped from her home a week before she was spotted on an island in a lake in a Birmingham park.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A new team of 46 council-employed marshals will be sent out around Birmingham during lockdown, to encourage people to follow the rules.

Marshals can offer advice to individuals and businesses, but have no powers to enforce the rules.

The city council is spending £900,000 to recruit the marshals and acquire the vehicles they will need to visit homes, parks and businesses.

West Midlands Police is also going to send around teams of up to 15 police officers in vans.

West Midlands Railway won't be reducing the number of services it runs during the four-week lockdown.

From tomorrow, unnecessary travel is being discouraged as part of the England-wide restrictions, but the trains will still be available for people travelling to workplaces or school and other necessary journeys.

The operator has warned coronavirus could cause staffing problems and advised people to check before travelling.

The government has said it will make travel exceptions for:

• People travelling to work when you cannot work from home
• People travelling to education or for caring responsibilities
• People attending hospital, GP or other medical appointments
• People visiting venues permitted to remain open, such as essential shops
• People making a short journey to exercise

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

The Stoke City manager can't see any teams that look like pulling away at the top of the Championship.

Michael O'Neill noted the good start made by Reading, but said: "At the minute we don't see the teams that have come down stretching away."

Image source, Getty Images

O'Neill also said he thought between eight and 10 teams at the top of the division would "fancy their chances" this season.