Coronavirus: PM press conference expected this afternoon

The new strain of Covid-19 is believed to be behind accelerating infection rates in the region.

It is reported that a travel ban in the South East may be introduced to stop its spread.

READ MORE: South East expected to enter Tier 4 - reports

New measures could be announced in the press conference due to take place this afternoon at 4pm.

The prime minister will be joined by England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, England’s chief scientific adviser.

An emergency meeting of senior ministers is taking place at lunchtime to discuss the new strain amid a rising number of cases in the region.

Professor Sir Mark Walport – a member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) – said there was a real possibility that it could have a “transmission advantage”.

“What happens with viruses is they do naturally mutate all the time and the ones that are likely to do well are the ones that increase transmission,” he told BBC2’s Newsnight.

“We know that this is a new variant, it has been seen in other countries but it seems to be quite widespread which suggests that it has got a transmission advantage.

“Scientists are working extremely hard to work out what is going on. But it does definitely seem possible that this transmits more easily.

“It will make the social-distancing even more critical.”

READ MORE: South East hospital beds are over 90 per cent full

This latest meeting comes as large swathes of the UK were put in Tier 3 restrictions – meaning shops and pubs must close less than a week before Christmas.

Meanwhile, latest figures from Sage showed the reproduction number, known as the R value, of transmission across the UK is estimated to have risen.

The number is now expected to between 1.1 and 1.2. Any number above 1 means the spread of the disease is accelerating.

With fears that the relaxing of the restrictions over Christmas could lead to a further upward spike, Mr Johnson on Friday refused to rule out the possibility of a third national lockdown for England in the new year.

“We’re hoping very much that we will be able to avoid anything like that. But the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks,” he told reporters during a visit to Bolton.

In Scotland, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said the option for a post-Christmas lockdown “remains on the table”, while Northern Ireland and Wales are braced for fresh lockdowns following the festive period.

Sir Mark said the country was in a “serious situation” as it headed towards the new year.

“The infection numbers are very high indeed at the moment. It is rising quite rapidly in London, in the South East in the East of England,” he said.

“Even in the parts of the country where the infection is coming under control the cases remain stubbornly high so the NHS is under great pressure.

“We are going into January in quite a serious situation where we do need quite strong measures to socially distance and if the virus is changing then that makes it even more imperative.”

The latest tiering changes in England – which came into force on Saturday morning at one minute past midnight – mean 38 million people are now living in Tier 3, 68% of the population of England.

Those areas moving into the highest tier are Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Peterborough, the whole of Hertfordshire, Surrey with the exception of Waverley, Hastings and Rother on the Kent border of East Sussex, and Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant in Hampshire.

Bristol and North Somerset have moved down from Tier 3 to Tier 2 while Herefordshire drops into Tier 1 – even though the county’s public health director raised concerns about the relaxation.

Elsewhere in the UK, Northern Ireland will see a six-week lockdown from December 26 to curb rising cases – with the closure of non-essential retail and contact services, as well as restricting the hospitality sector to takeaway only.

Wales will go into its third full lockdown from December 28 amid a “sustained rise in coronavirus”.