The number of deaths from Covid-19 reported in the UK today was the highest since early March.
The government reported 263 deaths, a higher number than any day since 3 March at the tail end of the second wave, when 315 were reported.
A senior scientific adviser to Boris Johnson’s government admitted that so-called “plan C” restrictions have been discussed should the surge in Covid cases get worse.
Prof Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care, told a parliamentary committee that further measures beyond plan B had been “proposed”.
Ministers have denied reports that the government was preparing measures such as banning household mixing in England this winter if cases continued to rise.
The government was earlier accused of trying to “scupper” its plan B by leaking the economic cost to the press.
Leaked Treasury and Cabinet Office documents showed the measures could cost the economy up to £18bn over five months.
Ministers had been reluctant to adopt the measures. Opposition politicians said the leak aimed to delay “meaningful action” against the virus.
