Boris Johnson and NHS chief executive Simon Stevens to hold coronavirus press conference as lockdown begins

Boris Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference at 5pm on Thursday to mark first day of England’s second national coronavirus lockdown.

The Prime Minister will be flanked at the briefing by NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.

The pair are expected to focus on the importance of protecting the health service during the second wave of coronavirus this winter, the Mirror reported.

There are no major announcements expected.

It comes after more than 58 million people in England woke up under national lockdown restrictions.

People are asked to stay at home except in certain circumstances, with hundreds of thousands of businesses forced to close including pubs, bars, restaurants and “non-essential” retail.

Earlier on Thursday the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the jobs furlough scheme would be extended until the end of March, in a bid to protect jobs during the second wave of Covid-19.

Explaining the reversal in Government policy, Mr Sunak said that it is not a weakness to be “agile” in the face of a crisis.

He told the Commons: “In the face of such an unprecedented crisis, the Government must be flexible to ever-changing circumstances.“It is not a weakness to be agile and fast-moving in the face of a crisis, but rather a strength and that will not change.”

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