Sheffield sees lowest daily rise in Covid cases since September – just as new lockdown laws loom

Another 215 people tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, October 8 – the latest date for which reliable figures are available – which is the fewest in one day since September 29, when there were 203 new cases.

This is when Boris Johnson will announce new local lockdown restrictions today

Sheffield’s weekly infection rate is still the seventh highest in England, with 439.3 new cases per 100,000 people during the seven days to October 8 – up from 263.0 in the previous week.

Nottingham has the nation’s highest infection rate, with 830.0 new cases per 100,000 people during the same period, ahead of Knowsley (669.5) and Liverpool (598.5).

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Boris Johnson is expected to announce details of a new three-tier lockdown system for England, with tougher restrictions including pub closures and a ban on households mixing for those areas where the virus is spreading fastest.

Areas would be labelled as medium, high or very high risk, depending on their infection rates, but it is not yet known which regions will fall into which band or exactly what the different measures will be for the three alert levels.

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Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has warned that tough new coronavirus restrictions may be needed until after Christmas.

Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, where the strictest restrictions are expected to be imposed, has said there is a ‘sunset clause’ based on the progress made after four weeks of those rules being in place, but exactly how that works is not yet known.