Coronavirus: The five charts that show how Covid-19 is spreading across England as millions face tougher restrictions

Hospital admissions are rising across England, the government's top health advisors emphasised at a press briefing on Friday.

Sir Patrick Vallance showed how the coronavirus R number was above one across the country and estimated new cases numbered 312,000 to 362,000, in the two weeks between 25 September and 8 October.

He also presented a chart which showed the percentage of people who have tested positive after taking a test is rising sharply.

While only 0.7% of people tested positive between 25 September and 8 October, this is still more than double the 0.3% it was the week before.

He also shared worrying stats about how coronavirus infection was rising through the age groups and now spreading heavily among those aged over 60 in Covid-19 hotspots.

It was particularly bad in the North West of England, with Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire among the worst hit.

Lancashire will join Liverpool in Tier 3 lockdown on Saturday, with all pubs and restaurants forced to close.

Boris Johnson stated a deal with Manchester to move them into Tier 3 after resistance by local leaders but said he "may need to intervene" if nothing could be worked out.

He said he would be forced to take action in order to protect Manchester's hospitals and residents.

In the slides Sir Patrick shared it was clear hospital admissions for Covid-19 patients was rising sharply, particularly among the most elderly.

It was also notably that the North West of England was seeing by far the highest number of hospital admissions in the country.

There were over 1,200 patients in North West hospitals with Covid-19 on 14 October, more than London, the South East, East of England and South West combined.

The North East and Yorkshire had the next highest number of coronavirus patients in hospital.