The government has confirmed Liverpool City Region will receive £14m to enhance enforcement and NHS Test and Trace.

Local leaders will be able to use this for a range of activities, including compliance and enforcement, enhanced contact tracing and support for the clinically extremely vulnerable.

They will also be able to call on the armed forces to provide additional logistical support if necessary.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

Cheshire East is also in the "high" alert category.

It means people living in Crewe and Nantwich, like much of the West Midlands conurbation, won't be able to mix indoors - whether it's in private homes, or pubs and restaurants.

Image source, Reuters

However, two households will be able to socialise outdoors, up to a maximum of six people.

While Manchester saw rates of new infections peak at 448.8 per 100,000 people in week up to 9 October, Cheshire East recorded a rate of 145.5 - a total of 559 new cases in the week.

Labour's Sir George Howarth has asked the prime minister whether a test, trace and isolate taskforce could be set up for the Liverpool City region.

The MP for Knowsley said:

Boris Johnson replied that the government was "already working with the Liverpool City region on improving local test and trace and I think his suggestion is very apt".

As the prime minister announces Liverpool City Region will go under new strict coronavirus restrictions from Wednesday, the latest figures showing the number of cases have been released.

In the week leading up to 9 October, the rate of cases per 100,000 people in each of the six council areas were:

• Knowsley - 669.5
• Liverpool - 598.5
• Sefton - 418.6
• St Helens - 387.6
• Halton - 381.7
• Wirral - 286.1

The mayor of Liverpool believes the area needs a local furlough scheme to help with tougher coronavirus restrictions.

David Baines, the Labour leader of St Helens Council, has tweeted that Liverpool City Region was "told, not asked" to move into the highest tier of the government's new coronavirus restrictions system.

Boris Johnson explains a three-tiered system of rules to fight the coronavirus pandemic in England.

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The English council areas which border Liverpool City Region - Lancashire, Warrington, Greater Manchester and Cheshire West and Chester - have all been put under the second "high alert" tier of the government's new guidelines system.

That means alongside the current national measures, including the rule of six and the 22:00 curfew, measures in "high alert" areas are also subject to local restrictions, preventing mixing between different households indoors.

The Liverpool City Region has been put under Tier 3 Covid-19 restrictions - the current highest level of local lockdown.

The new restrictions, which come into force on Wednesday, mean pubs, bars, gyms,leisure centres, casinos and betting shops will be closed.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said "not to act would be unforgivable" and he hoped "rapid progress can be made".

Liverpool City Region includes Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens in Merseyside and Halton in Cheshire.

The cash injection for under-threat venues is part of the government's Cultural Recovery Fund.

Three NHS Nightingale hospitals in northern England are being asked to get ready to take patients amid warnings from scientists that increased hospital admissions could soon mean wards fill up.

Here's more from NHS medical director Prof Stephen Powis, who announced in a Downing Street press conference earlier that the hospitals in Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate are "being mobilised" over the next few weeks.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

St Helens Council leader David Baines is “gravely concerned” by the impact of tougher lockdown restrictions on jobs and the local economy.

Image source, LDRS

The Labour councillor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that in every meeting, Liverpool City Region leaders had "stressed the need for financial support for businesses told by government to close and for all affected workers".

BBC North West Tonight

Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram and the leaders of the area's six councils have said in a joint statement that they are "committed to dialogue with the government to achieve a mutually agreeable solution" to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the area, but have not yet "reached an agreement on the wider economic support package that will be required as we go into Tier 3 restrictions".

Image source, Getty Images

The statement issued on Sunday, external said:

The statement also said that the region needs "clear definition of the Exit Strategy from Tier 3" and a "clearer funding settlement" for the local councils, which "cannot continue to exist hand-to-mouth and are currently unable to plan for the medium or long-term".

Liverpool City Region is not alone in recording high rates of Covid-19 among its population.

In nearby Manchester, 477.7 cases were recorded per 100,000 people in the week leading up to 8 October, while in West Lancashire, which borders three of Liverpool City Region's authority areas, 398.1 cases were recorded per 100,000 in the same week - a higher rate than that of St Helens, Halton and Wirral in the same period.

Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said the area was waiting to find out if they would be able to stay in tier two of the new restrictions.

The Labour councillor told the Today programme that Greater Manchester had put forward a proposal to keep them in tier two that would involve more local track and trace measures and powers to close premises which do not comply with the rules.

"We will see if we get approval for that plan," he added.

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

We know the broad outline of what the government is going to announce today.

Ministers have been working on a tier system for local restrictions in England for weeks - and today they'll confirm how it will work and the basic principles.

The Liverpool City Region is set to be the first put into the "very high" top tier - which will mean significant restrictions on hospitality within days.

But there are still details of a support package being worked out.

The region's mayor Steve Rotheram is adamant there needs to be more support for workers and businesses that will be told to close.

He doesn't think the chancellor's current plans go far enough - and I'm told conversations on economic support are likely to continue into this afternoon.

There have been questions about definitions - when is a pub a pub, which could be told to close, rather than restaurant which might not?

It's worth highlighting that if other areas are added to the highest tier in the next few weeks, restrictions may look different.

Sources say there is room for flexibility based on local factors.