How will three-tier lockdown system affect Colchester?

This will see different parts of the UK placed under different local lockdown restrictions depending on their infection rate.

Regions will be rated as level one, "medium" risk, level two, "high" risk, or level three, "very high" risk.

Areas listed as medium will be subject to the same rules as those which currently apply across the country, such as the rule of six and the 10pm hospitality curfew.

In the high alert level, which will apply to most of the areas already subject to restrictions, household mixing will be banned indoors. Support bubbles will still be permitted, however.

The very high alert level will apply to areas causing the most concern, and social mixing will be prohibited indoors and in private gardens.

Pubs and bars will be closed in the very high alert level areas unless they can operate as a restaurant.

Details of which tier each area will fall into are still to be announced but it is understood each local authority area would be placed in a local Covid alert level by the end of today.

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It is believed that level one will include regions with fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 of population, level two will include areas where the infection rate is greater than 100 cases per 100,000 of population, and level three will be introduced in areas where level two measures have failed to stop the spread of the virus or there has been a recent spike in transmission rates.

It is expected how the levels will be determined will be confirmed in the coming hours.

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Nottingham continues to have the highest rate in England with 2,763 new cases recorded in the seven days to October 8 – the equivalent of 830 cases per 100,000 people.

It is expected to be in one of the higher tiers.

By comparison, the rate across Colchester and Tendring is low but it is increasing dramatically with more than 200 new cases in seven days.

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The figures, for the seven days to October 8, show in Colchester the infection rate is now 49.3 per 100,000 people up from 19.5 the week before.

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During the seven days 96, people tested positive for the virus up from 38 the week before.

In Tendring, the rate is now 79.8 per 100,000 people after 117 people tested positive for the virus.

The seven days previously saw 30 people test positive and the rate sit at 20.5.

As a result, it is likely Colchester and Tendring would be in the "medium"or level one tier.

It is also not confirmed if Essex would be treated as a whole county or smaller local authority areas.

Mr Johnson warned there are more people in hospital with coronavirus than when the country first went into lockdown and that deaths are rising.

But he said schools, non-essential retail and universities will remain open in all levels.

Mr Johnson said: “Most areas which are already subject to local restrictions will automatically move into the high alert level.

“The very high alert level will apply where transmission rates are rising most rapidly and where the NHS could soon be under unbearable pressure without further restrictions.

“In these areas, the Government will set a base line of prohibiting social mixing indoors and in private gardens and I am sorry to say closing pubs and bars.

“We want to create the maximum possible local consensus behind this more severe local action, so in each area we will work with local government leaders on the additional measures which should be taken.

“This could lead to further restrictions on the hospitality, leisure, entertainment or personal care sectors but retail, schools and universities will remain open.”