Boris Johnson will hold a news conference with England’s chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser later today, Downing Street has said.
The prime minister will be joined by Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance from 5pm, on the first day of England’s third national lockdown.
In a national address on Monday, Mr Johnson announced another shutdown to try and control the spread of COVID-19.
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Tighter restrictions as new lockdown begins
People are once again being told to stay home, apart from for a limited number of exceptions.
Offering some potential light at the end of the tunnel, the PM spoke of his hope that everyone in the top four priority groups for vaccination will have been offered a jab by the middle of February.
A surge in cases is being driven by a new variant of coronavirus that has been judged to be between 50% and 70% more transmissible.
As of Monday, there were 26,626 COVID patients in hospital in England – an increase of over 30% in one week and now more than 40% higher than the peak of the first wave of infections last April.
There has also been a near 25% increase in the number of deaths in the past seven days, compared to the previous week.
A senior minister told Sky News earlier that the government “should be able” to begin easing the lockdown in March.
Michael Gove said the public should not expect a sudden relaxation of the rules, with restrictions “progressively” eased instead.
He warned of “very, very difficult weeks ahead” and said the country was in a “race against time” against the variant.