Last night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced England will go into a second national lockdown from Thursday.

Here's your daily morning update on the virus:

  • The Prime Minister said new restrictions for England would mean the whole of the UK was dealing with coronavirus in “pretty much the same way”. He said: “The situation now is there is quite a degree of congruence between the whole of the UK in the sense that Northern Ireland and Wales have very similar arrangements already to the ones we are announcing tonight, Scotland has its five-tier system which also involves some pretty stringent measures.”
  • Sir Keir Starmer welcomed the national lockdown for England but said it should have happened “weeks ago”, warning that the delay will cost lives and cause restrictions to last for longer. The Labour leader told reporters: “Everybody is concerned about the rise in infections, the hospital admissions and tragically the number of deaths. That’s why three weeks ago, I called for circuit-break. The Government completely rejected that only now to announce the self-same thing. Alas the delay now will cost, the lockdown will be longer, it’ll be harder and there’s a human cost which will be very, very real. Now, there’s no denying these measures are necessary and I’m glad that the Government has finally taken the decision that it should have taken weeks ago.”
  • Sir Keir Starmer indicated that Labour will back the Government in a Commons vote on the new lockdown, saying “these measures are necessary”, but warned against further delay. Asked about the restrictions not coming into force until Thursday, the Labour leader told reporters that they should be brought in “swiftly. The last thing we need is days before restrictions come in. If they’re necessary, they’re necessary now,” he added.
  • Charlie Mullins, founder and chairman of Pimlico Plumbers, said: “With this latest lockdown the business community has been sold down the river by a government that is supposed to be on our side, and I thought understand that the wellbeing of the nation depended on the survival of the economy. Sadly, Boris has lost track of these basic Conservative principles and has crumbled under the pressure of the job and the scientific voices whispering in his ear. He also looks like he’s playing politics with the livelihoods of the south of England by imposing a national lockdown instead of adding a fourth tier to the worst parts of the country. The Government is so desperate to curry favour in its newly won over north that it is chucking a net over us all to avoid being accused of favouring London and the south, over the areas where the virus is truly out of control. Boris would do well to remember where his constituency is.”
  • Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: “It’s a difficult time but if everyone works together, we can slow the spread and stop hospitals being overwhelmed at this critical time. That also means ministers giving councils the resources they need to play their part. As well as protecting the NHS, lessons must be learned from the dire situation in the care sector earlier in the year. Proper support and protection are paramount. We can’t see a repeat of the heart-breaking death rates in care homes. A further lockdown isn’t something anyone wanted, but we have to save lives.”
  • TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The Government should have acted decisively much sooner and now families face a grim winter. The extension of the furlough scheme is long overdue and necessary, but ministers must do more to protect jobs and prevent poverty. Furlough pay must never fall below the national minimum wage. We need a boost to Universal Credit and Government should not abandon the self-employed. And we will not control the virus unless the Government fixes the test and trace system and the scandal of workers asked to self-isolate without decent sick pay.”
  • Derek Cribb, chief executive of IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed), said: “Government must urgently fix the unfair disparity between employee and self-employed support. Right now, the self-employed can claim just 40% of their earnings compared to 80% for employees through the extended furlough scheme. This cannot stand as we enter a second national lockdown. Crucially, Government must also make sure it extends the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme to all self-employed people. The gaps in support in the first lockdown – such as limited company directors and the newly self-employed – led to the biggest drop in self-employed numbers on record. Many thousands lost their freelance businesses and were driven onto Universal Credit. Now, those limited company directors and other excluded self-employed who made it through on their savings face financial calamity if they do not get support in this second lockdown. Government must urgently increase the amount paid through SEISS and extend it so that all of the UK’s 4.6 million self-employed are supported.”
  • Jonathan Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: “Controlling the virus is crucial for the economy in the long run. But make no mistake, these measures will put great strain on an already fragile business community. The decision to reinstate furlough is absolutely the right one, and the announcement should bring relief to many businesses. Directors will be eager for clarity on the employer contributions, as we are now returning to circumstances much like the start of the summer. With the return of restrictions, gaps in Government support need sorted at long last. Small company directors who have gone without support throughout the crisis should be helped through local authority grants. It’s also now clear that the Government made a mistake ending its suspension of wrongful trading rules. This gave directors much needed breathing space to protect businesses and jobs during the summer. To help to prevent a flood of insolvencies, it must be reinstated straight away. When we emerge from these restrictions, directors will want to see the Test and Trace system firing on all cylinders. This could be a key weapon in the fight against the virus, but it hasn’t hit its target yet. The Prime Minister’s emphasis on this is welcome, but the results on the ground will matter most.”
  • The Prime Minister said Premier League matches would continue to be played. He said he hoped the period up until December 2 would be long enough for measures to work. “We have every reason to believe it will be, but we will be driven by the science and we will look at where we have got to,” he said. Mr Johnson said he was “optimistic” because the R rate was “not that much above one”. He added: “If we can get it below one then, as you know, it starts halving and that’s where we want to ge,t and we think this package will do that, but we will be led by the evidence.” Sir Patrick Vallance said: “If we all do what we’re supposed to do during this, the R will come down. If we can get R well below one, it starts to halve and we end up in a much better position, but I don’t think it’s a situation where in four weeks time we just say ‘Well everything’s back to normal again’, there’s going to have to still be some restrictions over the winter until the new measures come in in spring and the new things come along. Four weeks with a really good reduction of R would make a big difference.” Mr Johnson said they would be looking carefully at what was happening in different areas and working out which tier would be appropriate when coming out of the measures.
  • Sir Keir Starmer said it was unfair to pretend to the public that Christmas “will be normal”. The Labour leader told reporters: “I don’t think Christmas will be normal and I think we need to level with the public on that. This lockdown is going on to at least December 2, everybody’s seen the figures, and, therefore, I don’t think it’s fair to pretend that Christmas is going to be normal in any sense of the word.”