Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a new national lockdown for England which means people will only be able to leave their homes for limited reasons, with measures expected to stay in place until mid-February.

People who are clinically vulnerable and who were previously told to shield should stay at home and only leave for medical appointments and exercise, the Prime Minister said during a televised address to the nation.

The clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to begin shielding again, and Mr Johnson said those affected will receive letters “shortly”.

Primary and secondary schools will close immediately and move to online learning for all pupils except children of key workers and the most vulnerable with GCSE and A-Level examinations in current form cancelled.

The Prime Minister said that in England the number of Covid patients in hospitals has increased by nearly a third in the last week to almost 27,000 – some 40% higher than the first peak in April.

On December 29 “more than 80,000 people tested positive for Covid across the UK”, the number of deaths is up by 20% over the last week “and will sadly rise further”.

“With most of the country, or maybe under extreme measures, it’s clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out.

“In England we must therefore go into a national lockdown which is tough enough to contain this variant.”

Asa result Mr Johnson said the Government is again instructing people to stay at home.

He said: “You may only leave home for limited reasons permitted in law, such as to shop for essentials, to work if you absolutely cannot work from home, to exercise, to seek medical assistance such as getting a Covid test, or to escape domestic abuse.”

He added: “I know how tough this is, and I know how frustrated you are and I know you have had more than enough of government guidance about defeating this virus, but now, more than ever, we must pull together.”

Mr Johnson said that the weeks ahead would be the “hardest yet” but added that he believed the country was entering “the last phase of the struggle”.