Boris Johnson lockdown announcement tonight as Covid cases soar across UK
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to make a televised announcement tonight as lockdown looms.
It comes as Scotland's First Minister announced a national lockdown.
The televised address tonight at 8pm will outline the steps to tackle the rise in coronavirus cases, with Parliament set to be recalled to sit on Wednesday, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister has faced mounting pressure to toughen restrictions, with majority of the country in Tier 4 already.
A No10 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.
"He will set those out this evening."
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced a stay at home order from midnight tonight (Monday) in a bid to control soaring cases.
Nicola Sturgeon said she is more concerned about coronavirus now than she has been for the duration of the pandemic.
Updating MSPs in Holyrood, the First Minister announced a lockdown would be in effect in Scotland for the duration of January.
She said: "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."
What would coronavirus national lockdown look like? How it would differ from Tier 4
The televised address this evening comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock insisted it was safe to return to schools on Monday morning.
However, Labour has accused the Government of letting coronavirus "get out of control".
Current restrictions are set to be reviewed by the Government's "Covid-O" committee on Monday with Boris Johnson left to make a final decision on increasing action, The Daily Mail reports.
Placing more areas of England into Tier 4 is an alternative option for the Prime Minister with 22% of the population yet to live under the toughest tier.
Boris Johnson previously said he would act "in due course" and "will do everything that's necessary".
But he was warned not to delay the announcement of new restrictions in England as cases and pressure on the NHS increased.
- Boris Johnson
- Coronavirus
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