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The lockdown rules could be toughened to prevent people from gathering outdoors and make wearing masks in stores a legal requirement, according to reports.
Ministers are considering changing current restrictions to bring them closer to those applied in March, the Daily telegraph reported.
The proposals include removing the exception that allows two people from different households to exercise together amid concerns that people are taking advantage of it to socialize with their friends.
The use of masks could also be applied more widely, such as in offices and in queues or other crowded spaces outside. Currently, the law only applies to shops and public transport.
Supermarkets may also be legally required to enforce the wearing of masks and social distancing in their stores, according to The times.
Other measures could include abolishing the support bubbles, which were first introduced in June so that vulnerable people could get more support, closing daycare centers and places of worship.
However, a Downing Street source told the Telegraph the focus was on enforcing current rules and “making sure people don’t use their own creativity to interpret the rules however they want.”
Government scientific advisers have urged Boris Johnson to strengthen the lockdown measures, given that they are less restrictive than those applied in March, although the new strain of coronavirus that was first detected in September is 50% more infectious. .
Police attempts to enforce coronavirus regulations during the third lockdown have been criticized as clumsy, after two women were fined for driving five miles to meet at a beauty spot for a walk together while drinking mint tea. .
While the guidance asks people to “stay in place” when they leave their homes to exercise, the law does not limit the distance a person can travel.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty has urged people to stay home when he warned that the NHS is facing “the most dangerous situation” in living memory.
On Friday, the UK reported a record number of daily cases and deaths, and on Sunday, the number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital hit a record in England, at 30,000.
