Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

It's clear our health leaders are very concerned.

The most chilling message in the press conference was from NHS medical director Stephen Powis, who warned that if we don't take measures to control the virus now, the death toll that will be seen this winter will be too high to bear.

Powis and his colleagues made one thing clear: we still have a window to tackle this.

The rise in hospital admissions is a concern - it's doubled in England in the past two weeks. But we are still some way from that peak in the spring, when there were 17,000 Covid patients in hospital in England.

And one thing the experts didn't mention is that the outbreaks in care homes are small - a lot lower than in the spring. So there are some early signs we are protecting the vulnerable.

But for the UK, as we head towards winter and the time when respiratory viruses thrive, it's damage limitation at this point.

Manchester's medical lead Dr Jane Eddleston says north-west England has about 40% of all of the country's Covid cases, which is "proving challenging".

Greater Manchester has seen a three-fold increase in the number of patients in intensive care in the last five weeks and an eight-fold increase in admissions.

Thirty per cent of the hospital's critical care beds are now occupied by patients with Covid "which is starting to impact on the services we provide for other patients".

"I stress to you the importance of us taking this disease extremely seriously," she says.

Prof Powis says any additional measures that are put in place this week will take a number of weeks to show an impact.

He now turns to the NHS's other work - for example cancer treatment.

He said during the first wave of the virus, some people had to wait longer for operations.

"Where we can, we don't want this to happen again this time. But that depends on all of us doing what needs to be done to contain this virus," he says.

"As I've said throughout this pandemic, please use NHS services if you need them for your health needs."

Prof Powis, who is NHS England's medical director, announces Nightingale hospitals in parts of the North of England - Manchester, Sunderland and Harrogate - are being asked to mobilise in the next few weeks.

They are being asked to get ready to accept patients - whether that's Covid-19 patients or people recovering from the virus.

They could be asked to provide "elective and diagnostic services" for patients with conditions other than the virus, he says.

He says there will be regular testing for staff in high-risk areas, even when they don't have symptoms.

In the last four weeks, hospitals in north-east and north-west England have seen a seven-fold increase in Covid patients in their intensive care units, NHS England's medical director Prof Powis says

But he adds: "We're not just concerned about hospital admissions."

We're also learning about the "long term side-effects of Covid" which can also affect the young, he says.

Symptoms of so-called "long Covid" are becoming more apparent, says Prof Powis, as he says it's not just a problem that affects older people.

NHS England’s medical director Prof Steve Powis is now speaking.

He says the UK is not alone in seeing a renewed growth in infection rates - drawing a comparison with the Netherlands and France.

He describes how hospitals in other countries are starting to see rising numbers of Covid patients - and says the UK is starting to see a similar change.

We have more patients in hospital with Covid-19 than we did before the government announced restrictions in March, Prof Powis says.

He says hospital admission rates are also increasing among older people.

There are "steep rises" in the number of people aged over 65 and particularly over 85 being admitted to hospital, he says, adding: "So the claim that the elderly can somehow be fenced off from risk is wishful thinking."

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam then points to a heat chart showing age-specific confirmed case rates in English regions between 10 September and mid-October.

He focuses on a chart for north-west England, which he says shows infection rates were initially highest in 16 to 29-year-olds, but that trend has incrementally crept through each age group.

He says that pattern is likely to be followed elsewhere in England.

Prof Van-Tam said the resurgence of cases this autumn has been mainly in adults aged 20-29.

He says the data shows the spread is happening from the younger age groups to the 60-plus age group in the north-west and north-east of England.

This is of significant concern because the elderly suffer a much worse course of Covid-19 and are more difficult to save, Prof Van-Tam says.

On the geographical spread of coronavirus, Van-Tam notes that on their graphics, there are now very dark areas in the north-west of England and the north-east.

"Really a confluent dark purple colour across the northern part of the UK," he says.

But he says the right-hand chart is "of rather more concern".

"The dark brown areas indicate the latest data on where things are heating up and you can see that the reach of the dark brown colours is further south into a greater land mass across England," he says.

He adds that "it has changed in a matter of just a few days".

"That is clearly a matter of great concern to me," he says.

England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam begins by showing a slide illustrating cases by date in the UK.

He notes that the two peaks on the slide are an "apples and pears" comparison because the UK's testing capacity in the spring "was very much lower".

But he says the key point is that "having had a very flat summer, you can see that from early September there has been a marked pick up".

He notes the lag on the statistics from cases to hospital admissions and deaths.

We're starting to hear from some of the government's scientific advisers about the latest data on coronavirus.

Among those speaking is Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, and NHS England's medical director Steve Powis. Manchester's medical lead Dr Jane Eddleston is also here.

We've got some more details about this morning's TV briefing by some government scientific advisers.

Jonathan Van-Tam, who is England's deputy chief medical officer, will be speaking along with NHS England's medical director Steve Powis.

They will also be joined by Dr Jane Eddleston, who is the Greater Manchester Medical Lead and an intensive care consultant.

We'll be bringing you live updates on what they say. The briefing is due at 11:00 BST.

And this isn't the only big briefing today - PM Boris Johnson is also due to address MPs later and then give a press conference this evening.

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 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 metro mayor in Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, is adamant there needs to be more support for workers and businesses who will 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.

Image source, Rwanda National Police

Authorities in Rwanda have penalised two Catholic priests after presiding over Masses that violated coronavirus safety measures.

The Catholic parish of Ruhengeri in the north of the country - where the priests are stationed - also risks closure.

Father Emmanuel Ndagijimana and Father Felicien Nsengiyumva are said to have failed to adhere to the number of congregants allowed to attend Mass.

Police found "a chaotic situation" in the church and "everyone there was at high risk of infection", according to a government statement.

"We remind religious denominations particularly those that were permitted to resume services to follow strict safety guidelines as issued by relevant authorities," the statement said.

Rwanda's cabinet approved the reopening of worship places in July but under strict safety measures. Worshippers have to wear face masks, get their temperatures taken and maintain social distance.

Image source, PA Media

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused the government of "treating local leaders with contempt" during the pandemic, saying No 10 has made a "major mistake" by not consulting them more in the crisis.

It comes as new lockdown rules for England are set to be announced later, after rising case numbers in some parts of the country like Liverpool.

Speaking to radio station LBC, Sir Keir acknowledged that the government was now doing a better job of involving regional leaders.

But he said until recently, decisions were all being made from Whitehall and the local lockdown had been "done to people in the North, not with them".

Sir Keir called on the PM for "tailored support" for sectors such as hospitality, and to fix the Test and Trace system, which he said was getting worse".

There have been 600,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far in the UK and more than 40,000 people have died, government figures show.

However, these figures include only people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus and other measures suggest the number of deaths is higher.

Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average (last updated 9 Oct) here.

As we've already mentioned, a new "three-tier" system for local lockdowns is due to be announced later.

You can find more information on the three alert levels here:

Image source, Ian Forsyth

The UK hospitality industry plans to take legal action to stop new local lockdown rules that could force pub, clubs and other venues to close.

Trade body the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) said there was no evidence that hospitality venues contributed to the spread of Covid-19.

It comes as the government prepares to unveil new restrictions for England.

NTIA boss Michael Kill said the hospitality industry had been left with "no other option".

"These new measures will have a catastrophic impact on late night businesses, and are exacerbated further by an insufficient financial support package presented by the chancellor in an attempt to sustain businesses through this period," he said.

"This next round of restrictions are hugely disproportionate and unjust, with no scientific rationale or correlation to Public Health England transmission rates, when compared to other key environments."

• Read more here

Top US government scientist Anthony Fauci has said an edited clip of him used in a Trump campaign ad is misleading.

It shows Dr Fauci saying he "can't imagine that anybody could be doing more" to fight Covid-19, suggesting he is speaking about President Trump.

However, Dr Fauci was talking about himself and other medical officials.

The infectious diseases expert has previously clashed with Mr Trump over how to handle the pandemic.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Russia has reported more than 13,500 cases - just short of the most for a single day since the start of the pandemic.

More than 1.3 million people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in Russia - the fourth highest number in the world.

A total of 125 people more deaths have been confirmed, taking the overall death toll to 22,722.