The Liverpool City Region has been placed on a Tier 3 coronavirus lockdown.
Prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Monday that pubs, bars and gyms in the area will all be required to close from 5pm on Wednesday, October 14.
Betting shops, casinos and adult gaming centres such as bingo halls are also set to fall in line with the stringent measures set out by the Government.
It means that Liverpool, Wirral, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Halton will be under the heaviest lockdown under England’s new tiered Covid-19 system.
“The number of cases has quadrupled, more people in hospital than there were in March, deaths are already rising,” Johnson told the Commons.
“We cant let the virus rip and we can’t go back into national lockdown so we’ve followed a balanced approach to keep the R down to keep schools and the economy open.
“I don’t want to stop people enjoying themselves, but we must act to save lives.
“Left unchecked each person with the virus will infect three others, the R is between 1.2 and 1.5.
“We need to go further and we will now simplify the measures into a tiered system.
“I’ve spoken to local authorities in the Liverpool City Region and they will move into the very high alert level from Wednesday
“Pubs, bars, gyms and leisure centres, betting shops, casinos and adult gaming centres will all close.
“I’d like to put on record my thanks to [Metro Mayor] Steve Rotheram for their co-operation in very difficult circumstances.”
The new rules will be in place for up to six months with monthly reviews about the City Region being moved across tiering as the pandemic continues.
But the ruling comes under huge criticism from the region’s hospitality sector who said that the new measures will cause significant harm to the industry.
Government funding measures put in place to help businesses withstand the impact of Covid-19 are not set to cover the financial losses many will face.
It was confirmed that Liverpool has the third-highest rate of hospitalisations in the whole of Europe with 20% of admissions understood to be Covid-19 related.