Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make a televised address tonight outlining the steps to tackle the rise in coronavirus cases, with Parliament set to be recalled to sit on Wednesday, Downing Street has said.

A No 10 spokesman said: “The spread of the new variant of Covid-19 has led to rapidly escalating case numbers across the country.

“The Prime Minister is clear that further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protect the NHS and save lives.

“He will set those out this evening.”

The Prime Minister’s televised address is expected to take place at 8pm on Monday.

Responding to the announcement of the Prime Minister’s statement and the recall of Parliament, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “I hope the Prime Minister has been listening to the clear calls for tough national restrictions.”

He told the PA news agency new measures were needed to “get the virus under control, protect the NHS and create the space for the vaccine to be rolled out as quickly as humanly possible”.

The move comes as Nicola Sturgeon announced Scotland will go into lockdown for the rest of January with a legal requirement to stay at home and schools closed to most pupils until February.

Setting out the measures to come into force from Tuesday, the First Minister told MSPs in Holyrood: “It is no exaggeration to say that I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year.”

More follows.