British prime minister Boris Johnson is set to announce a new coronavirus lockdown for all of England similar to the one imposed when the pandemic hit the country in March, the BBC has reported.
The measures would include school closures for most pupils and people would be asked to work from home unless they are unable to do their jobs remotely or are key workers, the BBC said, adding the measures would come into effect from midnight.
Johnson is due to deliver a televised address to the nation at 8pm.
Meanwhile, Scotland will return to lockdown restrictions in response to a highly transmissible variant of Covid-19 and rocketing daily case numbers there.
Announcing the measures today, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Covid-19 situation is more concerning than any time since last March.
Ms Sturgeon said the new variant accounts for nearly half of new cases in Scotland, and is 70 per cent more transmissible, as she announced a legal requirement for Scots to stay at home from midnight.
“As a result of this new variant, [the virus] has just learned to run much faster, and has most definitely picked up pace in the past couple of weeks,” she told the Scottish parliament.
“It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation that we face now than I have been at any time since March.”
