More than a million people in northern England will be banned from mixing with other households under new coronavirus rules announced Wednesday, sparking warnings of “months of agony” ahead, according to AFP.

The county of South Yorkshire, which includes the city of Sheffield, will enter into “very high” alert or tier three restrictions from Saturday, the UK government announced.

Many pubs, bars, casinos and other venues will be closed for at least four weeks and residents will be barred from meeting anybody outside their household indoors or in private gardens.

The decision will affect around 1.4 million people, meaning that 7.3 million people — or 13 percent of England's population — will now be living under the toughest restrictions.

Similar measures were recently announced for the northwestern cities of Liverpool and Manchester and the county of Lancashire, following a surge in Covid-19 cases there.