Essex County Council has requested stricter coronavirus restrictions following a significant increase in the number of Covid-19 cases across the county.
The local authority wants to be moved from Tier 1 (medium) restrictions to Tier 2 (high) on the advice of Essex’s director of public health and wellbeing, Dr Mike Gogarty.
Case numbers are rising "exponentially" in all districts across the county, the council said.
It said the majority of cases have been reported among young people, but rates are now increasing in older age groups and Covid-19 hospital admissions are rising.
David Finch, the leader of Essex County Council, said: "By acting now, we can hope to stem this increase, limiting the time that we are in these enhanced restrictions and – above all – avoiding further escalation into ‘very high’.
"All of this will limit the damage to the economy; a healthy economy is critical to everyone having better lives in future.
“We already have one of the best track and trace operations in the country, but we will also be aiming to push its performance still higher alongside strengthening enforcement capacity and visibility.
"Making these painful decisions now will, we hope, bring dividends later."
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Under the tougher restrictions requested by the council, households would be banned from mixing in any indoor setting, and the "rule of six" would apply outdoors.
If Tier 2 restrictions fail to reduce the infection rate, areas would be placed into Tier 3, the council said.
Dr Gogarty said: "Across the county we have moved from gradual to exponential growth with number of cases rising exponentially.
"We want act now to minimise the impact on the public health and the economy and by doing so we believe we can shorten the period of enhanced restrictions."
The request for stricter measures will be sent to Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Tuesday.
