Coronavirus: Towns across England added to COVID-19 watchlist - find out if your area is affected
Restrictions are eased in Leicester meaning many public venues will be able to reopen from Tuesday.
Saturday 19 September 2020 03:23, UK
A number of areas have been added to the coronavirus watchlist as scientists warned the transmission rate could now be as high as 1.4 in the UK.
The Department of Health & Social Care said Lancashire, including all wards of Blackburn with Darwen but excluding Blackpool, Oadby and Wigston, have been added to this week's watchlist as an area of intervention.
Wards of Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale which were exempt are also being added into the intervention area.
Wolverhampton has also been added to the list.
Blaby becomes an area of enhanced support, and Selby, Scarborough and Spelthorne, Surrey, are added as areas of concern.
Swindon, Breckland, Great Yarmouth, Norwich, Broadland, north Norfolk, south Norfolk and King's Lynn & west Norfolk have been removed from the watchlist after improvements in coronavirus cases.
Leeds avoided further lockdown restrictions, after the government responded to a rise in COVID-19 rates with enhanced support.
South Tyneside, Sunderland, Gateshead, and Newcastle upon Tyne were added to the watchlist as areas of enhanced support.
Merseyside, Hartlepool, Sheffield and Hertsmere have also been added as areas of concern.
Meanwhile, restrictions have been eased in Leicester meaning casinos, skating rinks, bowling alleys, exhibition halls, conference centres and indoor play areas will be able to reopen from Tuesday.
Socially-distanced indoor performances will be able to resume and restrictions on certain close contact services - such as eyebrow threading or make-up application - will be lifted.
But the ban on inter-household gatherings in private homes and gardens will remain in place.
Kettering, Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire, and Luton have been removed from the watchlist.
Designated areas in Greater Manchester, where restrictions are already in place, remain as areas of national intervention.
Rossendale, Hyndburn and Burnley also remain as areas of enhanced support while Middlesbrough, Corby and Peterborough remain as areas of concern.
Stockport remains an area of enhanced support.
In Scotland tougher restrictions on home visits have been extended to Lanarkshire.
People living in the area will not be able to meet other households in their homes from midnight.
They come after lockdown restrictions in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire and west Dunbartonshire were continued for a further week on Monday, having first been introduced on 1 September.