UK Coronavirus LIVE: Boris Johnson to hold 5pm press conference amid reports of an imminent national lockdown

Nicola Sturgeon has told Scots not to travel to England unless it is for “essential purposes”.

She made the plea as Boris Johnson is said to be considering a second lockdown for England to curb the recent surge in coronavirus cases.

The Scottish First Minister said the prevalence of the virus is lower in Scotland than in other parts of the UK, after stricter measures were introduced north of the border in September.

That saw Scots barred from going into other people’s homes, and the Scottish Government also acted to close bars and restaurants across the central belt in early October.

A new five-level system of restrictions for tackling coronavirus will come into force in Scotland on Monday, which will see travel restrictions imposed on many Scots.

In Level 3 areas – the second highest tier in the new Scottish system and which affects the central belt including Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as Ayrshire and Dundee – people are urged not to go outside of their own local authority area.

In a series of tweets urging Scots to stick to the new rules, Ms Sturgeon also said people are being asked not to travel to or from England.

She said: “People should not travel to or from level 3 areas in Scotland and for now, we are asking people not to travel to or from England at all, except for essential purposes.”

Commenting on speculation about a lockdown in England, she added: “Prevalence of the virus is currently lower in Scotland than in other parts of the UK and there are early signs that the tough restrictions in place since we moved quickly in late September have started to slow the rate of increase.

“We will base decisions on circumstances here – though what happens just across our border is clearly not irrelevant to our considerations.

“In coming days @scotgov will consider data on the spread of the virus, as we always do, and take account of any developments in England.”

Schools and colleges must be closed if the Government imposes another national lockdown, the National Education Union (NEU) has said.

Joint general secretary Kevin Courtney also called for ministers to prepare to introduce school rotas for the end of any new restrictions.

Boris Johnson is expected to outline fresh measures to control the spread of coronavirus at a Downing Street press conference in just under an hour and a half.

He is reportedly considering introducing nationwide restrictions next week, which could see everything closed except essential shops and education settings for a month.

But the NEU said it would be “self-defeating” for the Government to impose such measures while “ignoring the role of schools as a major contributor to the spread of the virus”.

Mr Courtney said not including schools and colleges would likely lead to the need for even longer lockdowns in future.

A further 208 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England.

This brings the total number of deaths reported in hospitals to 32,855, NHS England has just confirmed.

Patients were aged between 26 and 101. 

All except eight, aged between 47 and 101, had known underlying health conditions.

Here’s an interesting take from Larry the Number 10 Cat: 

A further 24 Scots have died as a result of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the Scottish Government announced.

The daily figures on Saturday also showed that a further 1,101 cases of the virus had been reported – 6.2% of those who received test results.

There was a small drop in the number of people both in hospital and in intensive care.

The total number of Covid-19 hospital patients was 1,149, a decrease of 22 on the previous day’s figure.

Meanwhile 80 people are in intensive care, a decrease of three.

A total of 2,843 confirmed coronavirus deaths have been registered to date, according to the figures.

Of the new coronavirus infections, 374 are in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, 317 are in NHS Lanarkshire, with 121 reported in NHS Lothian.

Labour leader Kier Starmer tweeted about the need to hear from the Prime Minister minutes before the hastily arranged 5pm press conference on lockdown measures was briefed to lobby journalists.

Sir Kier didn’t outline what he wanted to learn from Boris but appears frustrated that lockdown measures were being leaked to the media ahead of official announcements. 

Will he claim he forced the Government into another u-turn?

Rugby fans are being faced with a stark choice after Boris Johnson’s press conference is rescheduled.

ITV will be showing the Six Nations Italy vs England match and will be in full swing when the PM hosts his delayed press conference expected to announce new lockdown measures at 5pm.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wales has surpassed 50,000.

A further 1,301 cases were reported by Public Health Wales on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 50,872.

There were a further 13 deaths reported, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 1,872.