Northamptonshire's pubs and restaurants face 10pm curfew in PM's latest bid to beat Covid-19

Northamptonshire's pubs, bars and restaurants will be ordered to close by 10pm every night under new restrictions set to be announced by Boris Johnson.

Downing Street confirmed that measure late last night but said the Prime Minister will speak live on TV at 8pm on Tuesday night to outline what other steps are needed to slow the spread of Covid-19.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said there would be a "shift in emphasis" and "if it is possible for people to work from home they should do so".

"They are reluctant steps that we're taking, but they're absolutely necessary because as we were reminded yesterday and as you've been reporting, the rate of infection is increasing, the number of people going to hospital is increasing, therefore we need to act," Mr Gove told Kay Burley.

Mr Johnson is also due to speak in the House of Commons at 12.30pm and chair cabinet and the Cobra emergency committee meetings ahead of the televised address.

Tonight's 8pm televised address comes after the Government’s chief scientific and medical advisers painted a stark picture of how the UK could be seeing 200-plus deaths daily by mid-November if the current rate of infection is not slowed.

Sir Patrick Vallance, speaking alongside Professor Chris Whitty on Monday, said the current situation required swift action to bring the case numbers down.

Sir Patrick also warned that the number of new cases is doubling every day which would lead to 50,000 cases by mid-October if that rate of growth continued.

The UK’s four chief medical officers then recommended raising the Covid alert level to the second highest level — from three to four.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “No-one under-estimates the challenges the new measures will pose to many individuals and businesses.

“We know this won’t be easy, but we must take further action to control the resurgence in cases of the virus and protect the NHS.”

Fresh restrictions are likely to spark anger from the hospitality sector, which was allowed to fully reopen on July 4 following the national lockdown in March.

The chairman of Oakman Inns, which owns 28 pub-restaurants in Northamptonshire and neighbouring counties, believes the sector is being unfairly singled out.

Peter Borg-Neal said: "We have been getting back on our feet, and now we could be smashed back down again is really, really very worrying.

"If there was great evidence that public health would benefit from pubs and restaurants closing then great, but there is no evidence."