Home Secretary Priti Patel will lead a Downing Street press conference at 5pm today.

Ms Patel will be accompanied by Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS England regional medical director for London.

It is being reported that Ms Patel will put the country on its final warning - follow the current lockdown rules or face tougher measures.

It comes after figures released on January 20 showed a further 1,820 Covid-related deaths were reported in the UK which is the the most recorded in one day.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said the NHS is vaccinating people against Covid-19 at the rate of 200 jabs every minute.

Mr Hancock told MPs the UK has now given more than five million doses of coronavirus vaccines to 4.6 million people.

“This virus is a lethal threat to us all and, as we respond through this huge endeavour (to vaccinate), let’s all take comfort in the fact we’re giving 200 vaccinations every minute,” he said.

“In the meantime, everyone must follow the rules to protect the NHS and save lives, and we can do that safe in the knowledge that the tide will turn and that, with science, we will prevail.”

Mr Hancock told MPs that 63% of care home residents have now been inoculated, and said early indications are that Covid-19 vaccines can deal with some of the newer variants of the virus.

Meanwhile, NHS England data shows one in 10 major hospital trusts had no spare adult critical care beds last week.

Some 15 out of 140 acute trusts reported 100% occupancy of all “open” beds each day from January 11 to 17.

These included University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest trusts in England, along with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust, both in south-east England.