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Local authorities and hospitals scramble to find additional intensive care beds as the country prepares or a second wave.
Isolation units are being installed in hospitals to accommodate patients in other wards as cases pile up across the country.
The health chiefs have been given a period of two weeks to prepare the beds.
The move to equip hospitals comes as the government seeks to adopt an ‘escalation framework’, The Telegraph reports.
It will operate on a traffic-like basis, with the mandatory use of the amber mask.
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This suggests that face coverings will become a legal necessity in even more places than they currently are.
Religious gatherings may also be restricted.
Areas in the red zone will be placed on local lockdown.
Family visits to nursing homes are also expected to be suspended.
Currently, the number of people in hospitals suffering from the coronavirus is low.
Bolton only has two Covid-19 patients in the hospital, despite having the highest rate of infections in the country.
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London care managers have been told to make more beds available so that patients who no longer need hospital care do not take up room in wards.
A deputy told The Telegraph: “The infection rate is increasing, and I was told that hospitals have reserved beds for people who leave the hospital and need a place to recover.
“At the beginning of the lockdown, they had to send people back to nursing homes or back to other facilities, with serious consequences, so they reserved places in empty respite centers or old people’s homes.”
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A former minister added: “An effort is being made to increase capacity so that if there is a second peak, the NHS does not lag so far behind with other types of care.”
Disused nursing homes will likely be recruited to provide space for additional beds, while NHS Nightingale hospitals will also be used.
In a sign of rising coronavirus rates in some parts of the country, 10 million people will be confined locally from midnight tonight.
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Earlier today, Matt Hancock confirmed the sweeping changes in a Commons statement, including a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew for pubs and restaurants and a ban on meeting people outside of your home or support bubble.
Hospitality for food and beverage will be restricted to table service only.
Tighter rules will affect the council areas of Northumberland, Newcastle, Sunderland, North and South Tyneside, Gateshead and County Durham, where coronavirus rates have been on the rise.
The health secretary said the battle against the coronavirus “is not over” and that more action is needed as winter approaches.
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