Boris Johnson says he had “no choice” but to implement another national lockdown in England as “the facts are changing” on coronavirus infections.
The prime minister told MPs that the government will use “every available second” to place an “invisible shield” around elderly and vulnerable people through the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
Follow live updates as PM gives COVID statement
Mr Johnson is facing MPs in the Commons ahead of a vote on England’s third national COVID-19 lockdown later.
Justifying his decision to order a third national shutdown, the PM said the emergence of a new variant of the virus first identified in the UK had caused a drastic change in circumstances.
He said the variant was “spreading with frightening ease and speed in spite of the sterling work of the British public”.
“This mutation has led to more cases than we’ve seen ever before,” the PM told MPs.
“Numbers that alas cannot be explained away by the meteoric rise in testing. When the ONS reports that more than 2% of the population is now infected and when the number of patients in hospitals in England is now 40% higher than the first peak in April it is inescapable that the facts are changing and we must change our response.”
The shutdown has already come into force, with the Commons recalled from its Christmas recess to debate and retrospectively vote on the coronavirus restrictions.
Labour is backing the lockdown, meaning there is no prospect of a government defeat.
However, a number of Tory MPs could rebel or abstain to show their unhappiness at the prospect of another prolonged shutdown.
The PM announced the move in a televised address to the nation on Monday, telling the public that a new variant of coronavirus first identified in the UK was spreading at a “frustrating and alarming” rate.
And he said hospitals were “under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic” last year.
In a bid to offer people some hope for the future, Mr Johnson said vaccinating the almost 14 million people in the top four priority groups would allow the government to begin considering easing restrictions.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove told Sky News earlier this week that ministers “should” be able to start relaxing England’s lockdown in March.
The regulations enforcing the lockdown, which were published on Tuesday, allow it to be in place until the end of March.