Ministers ‘considering the national closure from Boxing Day’

Ministers are said to be considering a national level four lockdown or more severe restrictions since Boxing Day, according to reports.

A meeting of the Golden Command of public health chiefs and ministers was allegedly held Tuesday night to discuss how to contain the rapidly spreading new mutant strain of coronavirus.

The tier system will be revised on December 30, but it is said that an announcement about tighter restrictions could be made on Wednesday.

Sources present at the meeting claim that ministers did not rule out plunging the nation into a third blockade immediately after Christmas, reports the Mirror.

Plans to move Birmingham from level three to level four by December 25 were also reportedly discussed, but officials agreed to delay the move.

But according to The Sun, several areas of concern could join London and much of the South East on Boxing Day, but not the entire nation.

The sources said the new rules would not apply to all of England “but there are many areas that need stricter measures and are seeing dramatic case numbers.”

Some ministers are reportedly pushing for new restrictions to take effect as of December 26, but others insist they must wait to avoid further travel disruptions.

Sir Patrick Vallance said cases of the mutant strain had spread “everywhere” and warned the country to prepare for new restrictions in the New Year.

“I think the number of the variant across the country is likely to increase and I think therefore the measures are likely to need to be increased in some places, in due course, not reduced,” Sir Patrick said.

Ministers are also said to be considering keeping schools closed in January amid concerns the new strain will spread faster among young people.

Epidemiologist at Imperial College London, Professor Neil Ferguson, said the data so far suggested that the new variant “has a higher propensity to infect children.”

He said they found “statistically significantly higher” rates among those under 15 years of age compared to the standard virus.

This is a news flash, more to follow …

Get in touch with our news team by sending us an email at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.