UK prime minister Boris Johnson will set out emergency measures to control the spread of coronavirus amid concerns the health services risks being overwhelmed.
Mr Johnson will make a televised address at 8pm this evening after coming under intense pressure to announce a new national lockdown.
The UK parliament will be recalled on Wednesday and Downing Street said the move was in response to the “rapidly escalating” numbers of infections following the emergence of the new variant.
The UK’s chief medical officers agreed to raise the Covid-19 alert level to five – its highest – as they warned that the NHS could be overwhelmed within 21 days “in several areas” without further action.
The latest figures showed a further 407 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of today and there were a record 58,784 more lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
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.”
Professor John Edmunds, member of the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage), warned that “really major additional measures” are needed immediately, with school closures being the “biggest lever” available.
Earlier, Mr Johnson had said there was “no question” that further action was needed and there would be “tough” weeks ahead.
The move comes as Scottish first minister 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, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs: “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.”
Senior British cabinet minister Michael Gove was understood to have discussed restrictions with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in a call ahead of Mr Johnson’s statement.
Welsh education minister Kirsty Williams went on to announce that schools and colleges in Wales will remain closed in Wales until at least January 18 and move to online learning.
After a recommendation from the Joint Biosecurity Centre, the UK’s four chief medical officers said the UK alert level should increase to level five “in light of the most recent data”.
In a statement, they said: “Cases are rising almost everywhere, in much of the country driven by the new more transmissible variant.
“We are not confident that the NHS can handle a further sustained rise in cases and without further action there is a material risk of the NHS in several areas being overwhelmed over the next 21 days.”
The latest public data show a 41 per cent rise in the number of confirmed coronavirus patients in hospital in England between Christmas Day and January 3rd.
