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Matt Hancock will announce changes to Covid-19 levels in the House of Commons tomorrow.
The Secretary of Health will reveal whether restrictions in local areas are intensifying or decreasing for the last time in 2020.
MPs will return to Westminster for a day tomorrow, to vote quickly through Boris Johnson’s last-minute Brexit deal.
Voting is expected to take place around 2.30pm and announcements about level changes are expected around 3pm
The Prime Minister is expected to discuss the new tier arrangements at a Covid-O meeting later today.
At the same meeting, the prime minister is believed to discuss plans to keep schools closed for another week, fearing that the new strain of Covid-19 will spread among pupils.
According to TES, a new plan approved by the ministers will prevent students from Year 11 and 13 exams from returning from January 4 as planned.
Only vulnerable students and the children of key workers will return immediately.
(Image: PA)
Covid-19 testing in schools will begin the following week, starting on January 11.
And according to the report, all students would return to school starting the week of January 18.
The Department of Education did not deny the report, but said its position, that they want the schools to return in January and that the dates remain under review, has not changed.
Downing Street is believed to have not yet approved the plan.
They have come under increasing pressure from both unions and scientists to delay reopening in order to slow the spread of the new mutation.
But with only a week to go before the schools officially open, parents, many of whom will have to make childcare arrangements if the children stay home, eagerly await any sign of movement from the government.
The government created the strict fourth tier in response to a highly contagious new variant of the coronavirus that is spreading in south-east England.
17 million people dived into Level Four when it was first created, then an additional six million people were added as the new areas joined the “stay at home” level on Boxing Day.
The maximum level of restrictions now affects 24 million people, representing 43% of the population.
Boris Johnson has promised to review the tier system every fortnight, and the government will move areas depending on how they are dealing with the virus.
But with the situation changing so rapidly, the government may decide to move places from one level to another before the official review date this week.
Areas including Oxfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk plunged into Level Four on Boxing Day as part of the government’s efforts to control the spread of the newest strain of Covid-19, which spreads more easily.
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