“We are entering a very dangerous new phase of the pandemic, and we’re going to need decisive early national action to prevent a catastrophe in January and February,” Andrew Hayward, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London, told the BBC.

The "50% increase in transmissibility" of the new coronavirus variant means that "the previous levels of restrictions that worked before won't work now, and so tier four restrictions are likely to be necessary - or even higher than that", he added. "I think we're really looking at a situation where we're moving into near lockdown."