Matt Hancock to hold Covid press conference: What time will the Health Secretary address the nation?

It comes as Covid-19 case rates for the four nations of the UK have dropped to their lowest level since before Christmas, with some regions of England recording rates last seen in early December, new analysis shows.

In London the seven-day rate has fallen to its lowest since December 8, while the figure for south-east England is at its lowest since December 7.

While a handful of local areas across the UK have recorded a week-on-week rise in the latest figures, most of the increases are small.

The national rate for Wales is now at its lowest since early October.

The figures, which have been calculated by the PA news agency from health agency data, suggest the lockdowns currently in place across the UK are continuing to have an impact in driving down the number of new reported cases of coronavirus.

For England as a whole, the rate of new cases in the week to February 3 stood at 222.4.

This is down from 295.1 for the previous week, and is the lowest rate since the week to December 13.

The Health Secretary may also reassure the public over the effectiveness of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine as experts warned it was “very possible” the South African variant is already quite widespread in the UK.

A study of around 2,000 people has shown the jab only offers minimal protection against mild disease of the South Africa variant and, due to the young age of participants, could not conclude whether the jab worked against severe disease.

Health minister Edward Argar said on Monday that Oxford researchers remained confident their vaccine could prevent severe disease for those affected by the variant and that booster jabs to tackle new strains are already in the pipeline.

Some 147 cases of the South African variant have so far been identified in the UK, with experts warning these are likely to be the “tip of the iceberg” due to the fact they are the result of random checks on 5% to 10% of all positive tests.