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The UK “is now seeing a second wave” of Covid-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding: “It has been inevitable that we will see it in this country.”
Johnson said he did not “want to take more significant blocking measures” but that stricter social distancing restrictions might be necessary.
Previously, new rules were confirmed for Lancashire, Merseyside, parts of the Midlands and West Yorkshire.
It also comes as the UK recorded another 4,322 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
“Clearly, when you look at what is happening, you wonder if we need to go beyond the rule of six that we introduced,” the prime minister said, referring to the new measures introduced on Monday.
He added that “the British have done an incredible job, they have lowered that peak through discipline”, but that “it is difficult for people to continue like this, it is difficult to maintain that discipline for a long time.”
Speaking in Oxfordshire, Johnson continued: “Looking at this particular curve and what is happening now, clearly we are going to keep everything under review. I don’t want to get into a second national lockdown at all, it’s the last thing anyone wants.
“I don’t want to take bigger lockdowns at all, we want to keep schools open and it’s great that schools are back the way they have. We want to keep the economy open as much as possible, we want businesses to keep going.
“The only way we can do that is obviously if people follow the lead.”
Earlier, BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the government was considering a short period of stricter rules that could be announced next week.
Branded by the government as a “break”, the measures being considered could involve the reintroduction of restrictions in public spaces for a period of a few weeks. Schools and workplaces would remain open.
Ideas suggested by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) include shutting down some parts of the hotel sector.
Meanwhile, new measures have been introduced to slow the spread of the virus in parts of the North West, Midlands and West Yorkshire.
This includes Lancashire (excluding Blackpool), Merseyside, and the Cheshire districts of Warrington and Halton.
New restrictions are also being implemented in Wolverhampton, Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire, and in all parts of Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale.
Some areas of West Yorkshire had already been subject to restrictions implemented in early August, but they were relaxed. They are now subject to these new rules.
In all, about 4.7 million people will be affected by the new restrictions, which prohibit separate households from meeting at home or in private gardens.
