PRIME Minister Boris Johnson tonight plunged England into a new lockdown as he set out emergency measures to control the spread of new strains of coronavirus amid concerns the NHS risks being overwhelmed.

Schools, shops and sports venues will close their doors for six weeks in scenes not witnessed since the original lockdown last March, with exercise pretty much the only reason to regularly leave home.

England will be put into a full national lockdown that will last until the February half term.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home?priority-taxon=774cee22-d896-44c1-a611-e3109cce8eae

All primary and secondary schools will close with immediate effect, remaining open only for vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers. The plan is for them to reopen after the February half-term break.

A-Level and GCSE exams are unlikely to go ahead as planned in the summer.

Universities will also remain closed to students until mid-February.

Nurseries will remain fully open. 

The public should stay at home unless they need to leave for one of just five reasons: 

• Work, if it cannot be done from home, such as construction and key public functions 
• Shopping for necessities like food and medicine
• Exercise, ideally no more than once a day. You can exercise with anyone in your support bubble, or one other person, with social distancing.
• To give care to someone else.
• For urgent or pre-arranged medical care, or fleeing an emergency 

All non-essential retailers, hospitality and ‘personal care’ like hairdressers must close if they have not yet done so under the tier system.

Restaurants and other eateries can continue to operate for takeaways and deliveries. 

But pubs will no longer be allowed to offer take-away alcohol sales, because of the number of people gathering outside to drink.

Children’s playgrounds will remain open. 

All indoor and outdoor sports venues, including golf courses and tennis courts, must close, and team sports cannot take place, even outdoors. 

Elite sports like the premier league can go on under their own schemes.

PE lessons for those children still in school are allowed.

People who are extremely critically vulnerable (ECV) should stay at home even if they cannot work.

They can leave to get necessities like food and medicine but they should avoid busy areas.