Health Secretary Matt Hancock will lead a Downing Street press conference at 3pm.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries and Dr Susan Hopkins of Public Health England will join him.

It comes as the reproduction number for coronavirus in the UK – the R value – is now reckoned to be between 1.1 and 1.3, latest Government data suggests.

Cases will continue to grow as long as the rate is above 1.0.

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The R value is highest in the East of England and in London, with an R value of 1.2 to 1.5. This means that every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 15 further people.

The R value in England as a whole is 1.1-1.4, and is lowest in the North East and Yorkshire, and in the North West (0.9-11).

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