“We know that a large number of these infections are taking place in indoor settings outside the home.
“And so at the request of the local councils, with whom we have been working closely, we will introduce legal restrictions on indoor mixing between households in any setting.”
The leader of Gateshead Council said he was not warned that new restrictions were to be imposed before the Health Secretary announced them.
Martin Gannon told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I got inundated with telephone calls and emails last night from people asking, ‘Can we do this, can we do that?’ and actually I didn’t have the precise wording of the regulations in front of us.
