Almost two million people in north-east England will be banned from mixing with other households and pubs will close early as coronavirus cases rise.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced the temporary restrictions will be in place from midnight due to "concerning rates of infection".
The measures affect seven council areas including Newcastle, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead.
"The data says that we must act now," Mr Hancock told the House of Commons.
He said Sunderland currently had an infection rate of 103 cases per 100,000 people, while in South Tyneside, Gateshead and Newcastle the figures are all above 70.
The government was taking "swift action" after concerns were raised by the councils covering the affected areas, he said.
Northumberland, North Tyneside, and County Durham's council areas have also been included in the restrictions which mean residents will not be able to mix with people outside their households and support bubbles.
Restaurants will only be able to offer table service and restaurants, bars and pubs will have to shut between 22:00 BST and 05:00.
Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said the temporary measures would hopefully "head off the potential of any further damaging full lockdown across the region".
"The evidence we've found from local testing is that it's spreading in three main areas - in pubs, in people's homes and in grassroots sports," he said.
However, Mr Forbes said the regulations still had not been published despite being announced at 11:30 GMT and coming into effect at midnight.
"The longer this goes on the greater the info vacuum and the more alarmed people are getting. We need clarity, now," he said.
The council leaders had also requested additional funding for policing to enforce the measures, as well as additional local testing facilities, Mr Forbes added.
County Durham's director of public health, Amanda Heeley, said: "If we do want to be able to continue to go to work to schools, to keep in contact with relatives but stop an increase in the cases we have seen, we are really urging people to adhere to the guidance coming out today."
Analysis
By Daniel Wainwright, BBC England data unit
While the rates of new coronavirus infections in the affected parts of the north-east England are lower than those in places like Bolton, this is not a simply a case of rankings.
Rates of new infections in areas like South Tyneside and Sunderland are at their highest since May and have been climbing for the past few weeks.
Other areas affected by the new restrictions, such as Northumberland, have much lower rates per 100,000 population but it is clear that infections have been climbing there too.
Northumberland's rate of 25.7 cases per 100,000 in the week to 13 September means it is outside the top 100 of 315 areas of England for new infections.
However, when the government imposed tighter restrictions on Greater Manchester, the east of Lancashire and West Yorkshire in the summer, areas with lower rates were also included.
At the time, Wigan in Greater Manchester and Rossendale in Lancashire were not seeing the same rates of infection as their neighbouring boroughs and districts, but Public Health England included them because they were "part of an area in which overall infection rates are high, with household transmission a key pathway".
It will be the same for Northumberland, with people travelling to and from work in other areas of the North East.
Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon said: "Nobody welcomes these things but I would think the vast majority of people recognise these are extremely difficult times and we all need to act and pull together."
Mr Hancock said the people of the North East would "come together" to beat the virus.
He said: "I know, the whole House knows, that these decisions have a real impact on families, on businesses and on local communities and I can tell everyone affected that we do not take these decisions lightly."
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth called for more testing capacity to be available in areas where there were tightened restrictions.
He said it was urgent the government "fixes testing, fixes tracing" or we face a "very bleak winter indeed".
Small businesses broadly welcomed the approach but called for more support to adapt to the new measures.
Simon Hanson, North East development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "It is absolutely critical that we get grant support to small and micro businesses quickly to help them adapt and provide some much needed support for cashflow."
However, the owner of a Newcastle restaurant described the new measures as "worrying" and a "bit of a nightmare".
Nick Greaves, who runs The Patricia in Jesmond, said shutting at 22:00 would put it in an "awkward position" as it would lose one of its later sittings.
"We have come so far to get back on our feet and now we are back down in this saga again", he said.
"It could even be a little bit dangerous with people going to the pub, necking as much as they can and then they end up drunk and are like 'let's go to a house or something'.
"I can't get my head around how that's going to help anything.
"The virus is still as dangerous before 10pm as it is afterwards."
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2020-09-17 13:31:00Z
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