Carlisle and its surrounding areas have joined a raft of new regions in England that have moved from Tier 1 to Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions.
The new rules apply to the city itself, Longtown and Brampton, and come after weekly infection rates surpassed the national average.
The announcement was made on Friday evening, with a spokesman from Cumbria County Council saying: “The announcement follows rising COVID-19 cases in Carlisle and this week’s public health update which showed Carlisle overtaking Barrow borough in having the greatest number of new cases in the county.
“Barrow and Carlisle’s rates are currently higher than the national average.”
Carlisle has a seven-day coronavirus infection rate of 242.9 cases per 100,000 people – compared to the England-wide average of 226 per 100,000.
Other areas which have moved into Tier 2 since midnight on Friday include the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston-Upon-Hull, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, Dudley, Staffordshire, Telford, the Wrekin, Amber Valley, Bolsover, Derbyshire Dales, Derby City, South Derbyshire, the whole of High Peak, Charnwood, Luton and Oxford.
Under Tier 2 – the high coronavirus alert level – people in the affected areas are not able to mix socially with friends and family indoors in any setting unless they live with them or have formed a support bubble.
People are also encouraged to work from home and avoid public transport where possible.
Wales is currently under a “fire break” lockdown with leisure, hospitality and tourism businesses closed.
In Scotland, the majority of people will be under Level 3 of a new five-tier system from Monday, with the rest of the country in either Levels 1 or 2.
In Northern Ireland, pubs and restaurants were closed for four weeks starting on 16 October with the exception of takeaways and deliveries. Schools were closed for two weeks.
On Friday, the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies (SAGE) claimed the virus reproduction (R) number in England has decreased slightly from 1.2 to 1.4 to 1.1 to 1.3.
But newly-released documents from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M-O) claimed that England has now “breached its reasonable worst-case scenario for COVID-19 infections and hospital admissions”.
Pressure is mounting on the UK government to impose a full national lockdown as opposed to localised restrictions.
On Friday, 24,405 new positive cases were confirmed and another 274 virus-related deaths reported.