– Boris Johnson is set to announce a dramatic new national lockdown for England amid mutant Covid crisis
– Ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt urged immediate closure of schools, borders with household mixing ban
– Matt Hancock said the tiers were no longer strong enough to deal with the mutant version of coronavirus
– Suggested public‘s failure to comply with all the rules was to blame for inability to control outbreaks in Tier 4
– PM warned that curbs are about to get ‚tougher‘ – and admitted he is considering further closures of schools
– Government‘s core ‚Covid-O‘ committee has met this morning to decide on the next steps in the response