Tees Valley is also due to be placed in the toughest Tier 3 restrictions “within the next week or so” and London could be next

Most of Britain is about to be plunged in to stricter lockdowns as millions more across the North and the Midlands could be placed into Tier 3.

West Yorkshire will be placed under the strictest level of Covid restrictions from Monday.

The area – home to an estimated 2.3 million people – includes the cities of Leeds and Bradford.

Bradford currently has the highest rates in the county, with 483.5 cases per 100,000 of the population.

The neighbouring areas of South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire are already under tier three.

Julian Hartley, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the city’s hospitals were currently caring for 268 Covid patients – a figure higher than in the first wave of the pandemic – and he expected this to keep rising.