Pubs, bars and restaurants in England will have to shut by 10pm from Thursday under new nationwide restrictions to halt an “exponential” rise in coronavirus cases.

Police have also been handed powers to issue £1,000 fines and make arrests to enforce 2 metre social distancing in pubs and restaurants, the Guardian has learned. Boris Johnson is expected to make an address to the nation on Tuesday setting out the new measures.

With cases doubling every week across the UK and a second wave expected to last up to six months, health officials had advised the government over the weekend to “move hard and fast”, according to a source. Meanwhile, the Treasury was concerned that many businesses had no buffer to withstand a significant new economic hit.

The UK’s Covid-19 alert level was raised to four on Monday, meaning the virus is “high or rising exponentially” – a move that gave Johnson cover for renewed action.

Hospitality venues in England will have to close their doors at 10pm and offer table service only from Thursday.

Yet the new measures are softer than those mooted in advice from government scientific advisers in recent weeks, which had included a two-week full lockdown as a “circuit-breaker” to halt the exponential increase in infections.

The new rules fall short of what some senior local leaders had been expecting, it is understood, and there are concerns that they will not change behaviour significantly. Northern Ireland is going further by banning all mixing between different households indoors.