Boris Johnson will today hold a televised press conference following an emergency cabinet call.
The Prime Minister will be joined by chief medical officer Chris Whitty and the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
Ministers met yesterday to discuss how to deal with a new strain of coronavirus which is spreading through London, Essex and Kent.
And now, the Mirror reports, they will meet again today as the Prime Minister comes under pressure over controversial plans to ease Covid restrictions over Christmas.
Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said they held a four nations call earlier, and will also be charing cabinet meetings this afternoon.
Downing Street has confirmed the press conference will take place at 4pm.
It comes after Prof Whitty earlier released a statement saying the new coronavirus variant can spread more quickly.
He said: “As announced on Monday, the UK has identified a new variant of Covid-19 through Public Health England’s genomic surveillance.
“As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East, the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly.
“We have alerted the World Health Organisation and are continuing to analyse the available data to improve our understanding.
“There is no current evidence to suggest the new strain causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is under way to confirm this.
“Given this latest development, it is now more vital than ever that the public continue to take action in their area to reduce transmission.”
