Boris Johnson is set to announce a winter Covid plan for England tomorrow.

The prime minister is reportedly “dead set” on avoiding another national lockdown.

A press conference is expected to go ahead on Tuesday which will see Mr Johnson underline how vaccinations will be a central part of responding to coronavirus in the coming months.

Downing Street said chief medical adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty will both join Boris Johnson in the press briefing.

The announcement will come days before the next three-week review in Wales, with first minister Mark Drakeford announcing the result of the review on Friday.

Prospect of future lockdowns

Ahead of Tuesday’s announcement the prime minister didn’t give much away regarding a winter lockdown in England.

Speaking on a visit to Leicester on Monday, Boris Johnson said: “We’ve got to do everything that’s right to protect the country.

“But the way things are going at the moment we’re very confident in the steps that we’ve taken.

“I’ll be setting out a lot more tomorrow.

“I’ll be giving a full update on the plans.”

Visiting a British Gas training academy with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Monday, Mr Johnson added: “I just wouldn’t want you to jump to any conclusions – wait and see what we say tomorrow.”

Threat of rising cases

Reporters asked the Prime Minister’s official spokesman if a lockdown would be arranged if Covid-19 cases continued to rise and he said: “We are in a very different place than where we were previously when other lockdowns were introduced, thanks to the success of our vaccine programme and other things like therapeutics treatments for coronavirus.

“We would only ever consider those sort of measures as a last resort and we will set out in more detail tomorrow what our approach will be should we see a significant increase in cases.

“It is thanks to the fences built up through our vaccine programme that we are in a very different position and we are not seeing the sort of substantial increases that some feared once we moved to Step 4 of our road map.”

What has Mark Drakeford said?

Around one in 65 people in Wales are estimated to have had Covid in the week to September 3, the highest level since the week to December 23, 2020.

Speaking at a coronavirus briefing on Friday, the first minister said: “Today, there are around 520 cases per 100,000 and that is higher than the rates we saw at the start of this calendar year.

“We now have very high rates of Coronavirus in our communities, rates which the modelling says are likely to get worse.”

He confirmed that if the virus continues to spread at the current rate, 3,200 new cases of Covid will be recorded every day as the wave continues toward its peak.

Restrictions not 'inevitable'

Mr Drakeford refused to rule out a future lockdown or fire break but suggested it isn't a mechanism he wants to use or will use easily.

“Nothing is inevitable," he said.

"The cabinet will be discussing this week further measures we can take to keep Wales safe.

“The health service is under enormous pressure, but not simply just from Coronavirus."