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Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday, October 31 that England will be entering another national coronavirus lockdown. The PM said in his televised address from Downing Street the new lockdown restrictions are not as strict as the rules introduced earlier this year.

Mr Johnson said: “We will get through this but we must act now to contain this autumn’s surge.

“We’re not going back to the full-scale lockdown of March and April, the measures I’ve outlined are less restrictive.

“But I’m afraid from Thursday the basic message is the same: Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.”

Speaking at the press conference, England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, saidthe number of inpatient beds was going up “on an exponential curve”, and several hospitals already have more people in beds than during the peak earlier in 2020.

Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said what was clear from modelling in terms of deaths over the winter is “there is potential for this to be twice as bad or more compared to the first wave.”

In terms of hospital admissions in England, Sir Patrick added over the next six weeks into early December they would exceed the number of hospitalisations seen during the peak of the first wave.

According to the UK coronavirus dashboard, 21,915 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, October 31.

As of Thursday, October 29, 10,918 patients were in hospital with the virus, with 978 people in ventilator beds.

As of Saturday, October 31, daily numbers show 326 people died within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

According to registrations up to October 16, in total 58,925 people have died with COVID-19 listed on the death certificate.

In light of rising coronavirus cases, the Prime Minister announced all non-essential shops, restaurants and bars will have to close during the national lockdown.

Schools and universities can remain open, but people have been asked to stay at home and only to leave their home for specific reasons.

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People will still be able to exercise outdoors and travel to work if they are not able to work from home.

People will also be able to leave their homes for any medical need or to escape injury or harm.

Shopping for essentials, such as groceries, is also permitted under the lockdown.

The advice will again be to avoid travel unless it is for essential reasons during this time.

When does lockdown start in England?

The new lockdown rules will come into force from Thursday, November 5, 2020.

The restrictions begin from midnight on Thursday morning.

The lockdown is due to end on December 2, but minister Michael Gove acknowledged this date could be extended based on coronavirus case data at the time.

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