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Boris Johnson is set to announce a month-long shutdown in England, Sky News understands.
The measures, which will run from November through December 2, will see the closure of nonessential pubs, restaurants and shops.
The prime minister is expected to move the whole of England towards tougher COVID-19 measures when he holds a press conference in Downing Street later today.
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This will also see a nationwide ban on different households mixing within households, although schools, colleges and universities will remain open.
Construction works will be encouraged to continue, while courts and parliament will also remain open.
So far, the government has been applying a localized approach to COVID-19 restrictions, and the country has been divided into three tiers of measures, based on local infection rates.
With all of England now set to adopt stricter national measures for several weeks, it is understood that the government’s plan is for different parts of the country to be re-liberated later at the three existing tiers at different times, based on transmission rates.
The prime minister will present the new national measures at a Downing Street press conference later on.
He is expected to be joined by England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s top scientific adviser.
Earlier on Saturday, Johnson’s top ministers were briefed by government scientists ahead of a remote cabinet meeting.
The prime minister also held talks with top Conservative MPs, with influential backer Steve Baker meeting Johnson at number 10.
When asked if England were about to enter a second lockdown, Baker said after the meeting: “The truth is, there are more nuances than that here.
“Like you, I need to wait for what the prime minister says. I really don’t know what he’s going to say tonight.”
In September, Johnson warned of the “disastrous” economic consequences of a second national blockade.
He later introduced a three-tier system for localized restrictions in England, though Labor later called for it to be replaced by a two- to three-week national “circuit breaker” blockade.
Government ministers had been staunchly defending their three-tiered approach in recent days, in the face of mounting calls for it to be abandoned in favor of new national action.
Recently on Friday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News that the three-tier system was the “right approach” compared to the “blunt tool” of a blockade across England.
Several Tory MPs are likely to be angered by the introduction of stricter restrictions at the national level, although former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he would “prefer a prime minister brave enough to change his mind than one who risks lives sticking his head in the sand”. .
Wales and Northern Ireland are currently in periods of national lockdown, due to end next month in both countries.
Mark Drakeford, the prime minister of Wales, reiterated on Saturday that any announcement by the prime minister would apply only to England and that his country’s lockdown “firewall” will end on 9 November.
Meanwhile, a new five-tier system of coronavirus restrictions will go into effect in Scotland from Monday.
Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Saturday that she “will take into account any developments in England”, although she stressed that “the prevalence of the virus is currently lower in Scotland than in other parts of the UK”.
The long-awaited announcement of stricter restrictions nationwide on Saturday comes the same day the licensing plan ends, which saw the government initially pay 80% of the salaries of employees whose companies were affected by the pandemic.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has replaced the leave scheme with the Work Support Scheme, starting Sunday, which will see employees have two-thirds of their salaries covered by the government if their businesses are affected by COVID-19 restrictions. .
