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Separate households will be banned from meeting indoors from midnight tonight in Greater Manchester, East Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire after a rise in coronavirus cases.
In Lancashire, the order covers Pendle, Hyndburn, Burnley, Rossendale and Blackburn with Darwen.
In Yorkshire, it applies to Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the move was part of "immediate action" to keep people safe.
"The spread is largely due to households meeting and not abiding to social distancing," he said.
"So from midnight tonight, people from different households will not be allowed to meet each other indoors in these areas.
"We take this action with a heavy heart, but we can see increasing rates of COVID across Europe and are determined to do whatever is necessary to keep people safe
just households
