An emergency Cabinet meeting is reported to take place 'within hours' today.
Boris Johnson is believed to be meeting with ministers to discuss the rising Omicron cases, and the possibility of a circuit breaker lockdown after Christmas.
The BBC's Alex Wickham broke the news, stating: "Told emergency Covid Cabinet call happening in next few hours. Cabinet sources expect they will be primed for the possibility of further restrictions," Birmingham Live reports.
The Cabinet will get a data briefing from scientists after SAGE advice yesterday said new measures were needed.
A Government spokesperson said: "The Government will continue to look closely at all the emerging data and we'll keep our measures under review as we learn more about this variant."
Stephen Reicher, professor of social psychology at the University of St Andrews and member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said: "The only way really, or at least the most effective way, we can have an immediate effect is to decrease the number of contacts we have.
"In many ways, the most effective way of diminishing contact is to have a circuit-breaker.
"Now, you could have it after Christmas, the problem is after Christmas it's probably too late, it's probably by then we will have had a huge surge of infections with all the impact upon society.
"When people say 'look, we don't want to close down', of course, we don't want to close down. But the problem is at the moment, things are closing down anyway, because of the spread of infection.
"So I think we need to act now."
