BREAKING: South Yorkshire placed in 'Tier 2' lockdown level

Sheffield City Region mayor Dan Jarvis and Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford confirmed the move on social media following conversations with health secretary Matt Hancock.

The prime minister addressed parliament at 3.30pm, setting out different rules for regions classified as being on "medium", "high" or "very high" alert.

Mr Jarvis said: "We cannot afford this without additional support, otherwise we will languish in local restrictions with no clear way out.

"We've put a plan to Govt and are awaiting more details," he added.

Mr Stafford said the measures would come into force on Wednesday, with restrictions as follows:

• Different households mixing indoors not allowed. This includes in homes and hospitality venues.

 • Households can mix outdoors but subject to the rule of six and social distancing.

• An exemption for paid childcare, which applies to children under 14.

• You must minimise travel, but you can travel for education, work and go on holiday.

• Travel from Doncaster Airport is not banned, and travel to places elsewhere in the UK is allowed so long as local restrictions in those places are obeyed. At the moment you can still go on holidays as per guidance.

• You can leave the county and local authority area but you cannot travel to a neighbouring county, eg Derbyshire, in order to mix households there. 

• The hospitality sector will remain open.

• There will be increased financial support and increased support for test and trace in our area.

Mr Stafford added: “The Government has not ruled out going further in South Yorkshire if the situation does not improve. This will be done in conjunction with local authorities.

“In order to exit level two, we will need to flatten the curve and then see case rates fall. The Government is looking at various factors, including number of cases per 100,000 people, the percentage of positive tests, and the number of people over 60 who have tested positive.”