Restrictions on indoor meetings could be on the way - but not before Christmas, according to government sources.
The Mirror's Political Editor has tweeted the update as senior ministers were meeting to discuss the rising number of covid cases being confirmed across the country.
While nothing official has been announced by Whitehall, a number of reports are beginning to emerge.
The Mirror's Pippa Crera tweeted "Hearing that Boris Johnson is considering going back to step 2 restrictions from Dec 27 - so POST Christmas - for a month to help curb infections.
"Big caveat is that Govt scientists want him to act now - while some in Cabinet worried about further restrictions even later."
If the move goes ahead it will mean indoor social meetings are no longer allowed.
The Times is also reporting that further restrictions are unlikely to be imposed before Christmas.
It said its team had been told that neither the Prime Minister nor his cabinet ministers believed the latest information was sufficient to justify a circuit breaker.
Boris Johnson has pledged to recall parliament if he decides to implement further restrictions, a process that takes 48 hours.
Given that millions of people are travelling for Christmas in the coming days, a government source said that the logistics meant it was unlikely there would be pre-Christmas restrictions.
According to The Times a government source said: “The data isn’t there yet to justify further restrictions. There’s still so much that we don’t know about the severity of the variant and the extent to which vaccination and boosters sever the link between cases and hospitalisations.”
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