Matt Hancock will hold a press conference on Wednesday with more areas expected to be put into the toughest tier 4 coronavirus lockdowns.

The health secretary attended a meeting of the cabinet’s Covid operations committee on Wednesday to consider the latest data on the spread of the virus.

He will now address the public and press at 3pm alongside deputy chief medical officer for England, Dr Jenny Harries, and Dr Susan Hopkins from Public Health 

Earlier, communities secretary Robert Jenrick acknowledged that “it may be necessary to take further action” to curb rising case numbers, thought to be due to a new and more infectious strain of the virus.

But he ruled out the changes taking effect before or during the one-day Christmas relaxation of the rules for areas that are not currently in tier 4.

Ahead of Hancock’s press conference, a health official said: “Ministers have met today to assess what further action may be needed to address the rise in cases driven by the new variant.

“The health secretary will provide an update at a Downing Street press conference at 3pm.”

It came as the UK’s coronavirus reproduction (R) rate rose again to between 1.1 and 1.3.

R measures the number of people, on average, that each sick person will infect.

If R is greater than 1, the epidemic is generally seen to be growing; if R is less than 1 the epidemic is shrinking.

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