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All of West Yorkshire, including Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield, will enter Level 3 coronavirus restrictions, it has been announced.
The change will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, Leeds City Council Leader Judith Blake told Sky News.
Local leaders have been in talks with ministers about moving to England’s highest band of measures for more than a week, to curb the spread of COVID-19.
In other places, there are many other areas due to move to Level 2 from Saturday.
That includes Luton and Oxford; in the Midlands Derby, Dudley, Bolsaver and Staffordshire; and further north, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull and North Lincolnshire, as well as a few other places.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock previously said there is a “worrisome increase in cases across the country,” so “decisive action is needed.”
He continued: “These restrictions are a challenge for all of us, but only by working together and following the rules will we be able to reduce infection rates.
“Failure to act now will only lead to a longer outage and greater economic damage.”
The government has yet to confirm the Tier 3 move for West Yorkshire.
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Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said Wednesday the government was “unwavering in its resolve” to place the area at Level 3, but denied it was a “deadlock.”
Hospital admissions have risen dramatically in the region recently, and NHS figures show that Yorkshire and the Humber have the fastest growing COVID-19 rates in England.
Earlier this week, the trust that runs Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital, also in Leeds, said only essential operations will take place after the number of coronavirus patients was higher than during the peak of the first wave.
The Nightingale hospital in Harrogate has been put on hold to reopen
Other hospitals, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, have reported similarly high numbers, with Nightingale Hospital in Harrogate being one of the few that was told to prepare to accept patients again.
The latest figures from Public Health England (PHE) show that Leeds had a rate of 422.9 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to October 23.
The general rate for England is 224 cases per 100,000 people during the same period.
South Yorkshire entered Level 3 last Saturday.
Leeds is one of the cities that will enter Level 3
Work called for a brief lockout known as a “circuit break” to coincide with the middle of the period, following a similar call from top government scientific advisers known as SAGE By the end of September.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resisted those suggestions, saying his “local and regional focus” will “end the virus.”
But Interior Minister Priti Patel on Thursday refused to rule out another national shutdown.
It occurs when 23,065 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in the UK, and another 280 died.
