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Since it reopened two weeks ago, business in Oldham's Salt Cellar community hub and cafe has not been brisk.

Many of its usual elderly customers are shielding, and now the restrictions that came into effect at midnight mean it cannot be used as a meeting place either.

Thanks to a spike in coronavirus infections, Oldham is facing tighter restrictions which mean that people cannot socialise with anyone outside their own households.

Manager Kerry Roach said the cafe would usually be packed, but now "if it wasn't for the fact that most of the staff are volunteers, we'd be struggling to stay open".

Carol Hampshire, who works with Ms Roach, said she believes the COVID-19 restrictions can be difficult for older people to understand.

"It's been very quiet. The older people are shielding and quite a few are uncertain what any of the guidelines are," she said.

"One of our regulars has even asked me to ring her and tell her when she's allowed to come out of her house, because she struggles to follow what the guidelines are."

In the town centre, Elaine Young says the new ban on households being able to mix means her granddaughter's ninth birthday will have to be socially distanced.

"We booked this a while ago, and we're still going to have the celebration," she said.

"It means my husband and I will have to be on a separate table, but we're not going to miss out because her ninth birthday is really important.

"We've followed all the rules. We'll have our masks on and do all the necessary things, and hey presto, we'll have a good time!"

Others in town share a lack of confidence in the restrictions, or in people's desire to follow them.

"It won't make a difference," one lady tells me. "People will just ignore them like they have been doing."

A 22-year-old man tells me it is not just his age group that are flouting the restrictions.

"Young people, older people, they're all doing it," he says. "The messages from the government are too mixed and people are confused."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the action the government takes is as targeted as possible, with the maximum possible local consensus.

But a look at Greater Manchester Police's social media feed shows many are simply ignoring the advice.

It reports a string of restriction-breaking gatherings, from house parties to children's birthday celebrations, where intervention, and fines, were necessary.

It comes after the UK recorded 1,288 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Saturday - up from 1,033 the previous day.

Government figures showed 18 people died after testing positive for coronavirus within 28 days, up from two a day earlier. A total of 41,423 people have died with the virus, according to government figures.

Separate figures published by UK statistics agencies show there have now been 57,000 deaths registered in the UK where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Thankfully, infection rates in Oldham are falling, from 107 per 100,000 people two weeks ago to just over 70.

But there is still the threat of a total lockdown if that downward trend does not continue - and that could have a huge impact, both economically and socially.