Coronavirus in Portsmouth: Boris Johnson to address nation to announce tougher Covid rules for England

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has his temperature taken during a visit to view the vaccination programme at Chase Farm Hospital in north London. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

A No 10 spokesman said that the move was in response to the ‘rapidly escalating’ numbers of infections following the emergence of the new variant.

The statement, to be made at 8pm on Monday, will be followed by the recall of Parliament on Wednesday so MPs can debate the measures.

A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The spread of the new variant of Covid-19 has led to rapidly escalating case numbers across the country.

‘The Prime Minister is clear that further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protect the NHS and save lives.’

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According to reports, Boris Johnson will announce the closure of schools among other measures.

The move comes as Nicola Sturgeon announced Scotland will go into lockdown for the rest of January with a legal requirement to stay at home and schools closed to most pupils until February.

Setting out the measures to come into force from Tuesday, the First Minister told MSPs in Holyrood: ‘It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year.’

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Earlier, during a visit to a vaccination centre in north London, Mr Johnson acknowledged there was ‘no question’ the further measures would be necessary, as cases continue to surge across the country.

The latest data show a 41 per cent rise in the number of confirmed coronavirus patients in hospital in England between Christmas Day and January 3, figures which have caused alarm in Whitehall and the health service.

While ministers hailed the rollout of the new Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Mr Johnson warned the nation needed to prepare for some ‘tough’ weeks ahead as the jab was extended to the most vulnerable.

With 78 per cent of England’s population already under the toughest current restrictions, ministers have been examining how successful the Tier 4 measures – which came into force for the first time on December 20 – have been.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt called for immediate action to close schools, shut borders and ban household mixing, saying the situation was ‘off-the-scale worse’ than previous winter crises faced by the NHS.

‘In the face of exponential growth even waiting an extra day causes many avoidable deaths so these plans must now be urgently accelerated,’ he said.

Senior Tory Neil O’Brien said procedures ‘need to toughen up at the border’ in order to prevent cases being imported – a particular concern given the potential for new variants such as the one in South Africa.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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