Parts of the North West and North East and large parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands are expected to be put in the highest alert level, with London moving up to Tier 2

Londoners will be plunged into a tougher lockdown at the weekend – with a ban on meeting people they don’t live with indoors.

The move will see the capital’s threat level increased from “medium” to “high”, it was announced, in response to soaring Covid-19 infections.

Essex will also move to “high”, insiders told the Mirror today.

It comes as large parts of the North East, North West and Midlands are set to be classed as “very high”.

This would mean businesses being forced to close and a ban on households mixing, as has been introduced in Liverpool.

The government has come under fire over its handling of the crisis in the North, with Manchester’s mayor hitting out at Number 10 following crunch talks.

Yesterday saw nearly 20,000 new Covid-19 cases confirmed and 137 deaths, the second day in a row more than 100 deaths have been announced.

Labour has called for a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown, with the government accused of putting thousands of lives at risk.