PRIME Minister Boris Johnson is set to outline a three-tiered coronavirus alert system today.
This will see different parts of the UK placed under different local lockdown restrictions depending on their infection rate, it has been reported.
Regions will be rated as level one, "medium" risk, level two, "high" risk, or level three, "very high" risk.
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.
The Liverpool City Region is set to be in the highest tier with an infection rate of 600 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending October 6.
Comparatively, the infection rate in Brighton and Hove was 74 cases per 100,000 people in the week ending October 8, and the average England infection rate was 79.
As a result, Brighton and Hove would be in the "medium"or level one tier, though the latest update on weekly figures in the city shows a significant rise on the data from the previous seven-day period.
Under the top-level restrictions expected to be introduced in Liverpool and other "high risk" areas of England later today, pubs, casinos and gyms are likely to be impacted.
Details of possible support packages for businesses forced to close are still being finalised.
Discussions between the government and local authorities are continuing to decide the extent of the new measures, with Boris Johnson announcing these in the House of Commons this afternoon before addressing the nation at 6pm.
Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News this morning, culture secretary Oliver Dowden said the purpose of the new measures was to "get the virus under control so that by the time we get through to after Christmas we are in that position where it's under control".
"I hope it will be sooner than that," he added.
"The point of moving to this tiered system is so that, in those most highly affected areas, we've got measures in place to control the virus.
"If those measures are successful, we hope to be able to take areas out of those higher levels of restrictions."
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