He was said to have called an unscheduled meeting of senior ministers on Friday night to discuss how to contain the new variant. The Daily Telegraph quoted one anonymous source as saying: “The evidence that the new strain of the virus more easily transmits from one person to another has hardened up.” However, Downing Street officials declined to comment on the reports last night.
The newspaper claimed new travel restrictions were among the measures being discussed by ministers late last night. One source quoted by the Telegraph said the Government could even restrict travel between the South East and other parts of the country.
An alternative also reported to be under discussion would ban commuters from travelling into London.
Ministers are concerned about the mutant strain, which originated in Kent and spread rapidly to London and then the home counties.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock alerted MP about the new variant when announcing that much of the South East was to go under top level “Tier Three” restrictions earlier this week.
But the new data about the transmissibility of the mutant strain was said to be so concerning that ministers were reported to be considering a swift new response.
The Telegraph reported that scientists at the Government’s Porton Down laboratory in Wiltshire have been conducting experiments on the new strain.
They were said to have confirmed ministers’ fears about it being far more infectious than the original strain of the virus.
Whitehall sources were refusing to rule out a press conference on Saturday to announce additional restrictions, according to the Telegraph.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Johnson refused to rule out a third national lockdown across England.
During a visit to Greater Manchester yesterday, the Prime Minister insisted the Government hoped to avoid issuing a fresh stay-at-home order in the New Year.
But he acknowledged cases had increased “very much” in recent weeks since the last lockdown in England last month.
His remarks followed fresh demands from public health chiefs for tighter restrictions to be imposed in many areas following the five-day relaxation of household-mixing rules over Christmas.
Mr Johnson was quizzed his plans for coronavirus restrictions in the New Year after the Northern Ireland government yesterday announced a six-week lockdown from December 26.
“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,” the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson, who has called for “extreme caution” during the Christmas break, yesterday stepped up his call for people to act responsibly when rules are eased temporarily.
“What we’re saying to people now over this Christmas period is think of those rules about the three households that you can bubble up with, the five days. That is very much a maximum – that’s not a target people should aim for.
“I think people really get this, people do get this, all the evidence I’m seeing, people really understand this is the time to look after, to think about, our elderly relatives, avoid spreading the disease.
“Keep it short, keep it small, have yourselves a very little Christmas as I said the other night – that is, I’m afraid, the way through this year.
“Next year I have no doubt that as we roll out the vaccine and all the other things that we’re doing it will be very, very different indeed.”
Prof Neil Ferguson, the scientist whose forecasts of an explosion in coronavirus infections led to the first lockdown in March, yesterday suggested a third national lockdown may need to be more stringent than the second.
He said: “The concern I have right now is that in the East of England, for instance, case numbers were rising during the last lockdown, so there may be a need for additional controls beyond even what were in place then.”
With the political divide over Covid restrictions widening, Sir Keir Starmer yesterday called on the Prime Minister to set out a plan for averting a third national lockdown in England.
The Labour leader said: “Nobody wants a third lockdown. It’s hugely damaging on health grounds and also for the economy.
READ MORE: London faces Christmas lockdown TOMORROW as new COVID mutant spreads
“We can see that the tiered system is not working in the way the Prime Minister promised. More people are going into the higher tiers, so it’s not strong enough.
“Whether the Prime Minister rules it out or not is not the central question.
“I think the central question, Prime Minister, is what are you doing now to prevent the chances of a third lockdown?”
Sir Keir Starmer has said that limiting Christmas to mixing only between two households would be a “step in the right direction”.
The Opposition Leader urged the Prime Minister to “toughen up over Christmas, he’s got to show some leadership.”
He added: “Easing the restrictions I think is going to be the next big mistake for the Prime Minister.”
Earlier yesterday, Schools Minister Nick Gibb also said the Government was not ruling out a fresh lockdown in England.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We have a very localised approach because we have the data from the mass testing. Forty-six million tests have been issued through that Test and Trace system since the beginning.
“It means that we can identify where, in particular local areas, infection rates are rising, and then we can apply those restrictions on an area-by-area basis through the tier system, and when infection rates are rising we will increase the tier from Tier two to Tier Three. When they’re falling, we will reduce it as we have in Bristol, North Somerset and in Herefordshire.”
Asked if there would be no national lockdown, he added: “We think the tier system is a very effective way, of course, but you know, we rule nothing out. This Government is absolutely determined to tackle this virus.”
Mr Gibb added: “We’re not there yet. That’s why we have to, all of us, be so careful over the Christmas period.
“To have a short period of Christmas, to keep to small numbers the number of people who join you for Christmas, to make sure we keep this deadly virus under control.”
Katherine Henderson, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said the Government must do “whatever it takes” to get coronavirus cases under control.
Sher said: “We need to do something to get ourselves suppressing the community transmission of the virus.
“It seems to me we need to do whatever it takes to get the situation firmly under control so that we can vaccinate people and then move forward.”
Professor John Edmunds, a member of the Sage scientific advisory panel, said measures were likely to have to be tightened after Christmas.
“At the moment it doesn’t look like the tier system is holding the epidemic wave back, unfortunately.
“So I think we are going to have to look at these measures and perhaps tighten them up, we really will. It’s a horrible thing to have to say but we are in quite a difficult position,” he said.