Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a new lockdown in a bid to curb rapidly rising Covid cases that threaten to overwhelm the NHS.

In an address to the nation at 8pm on Monday evening, the PM set out 'further steps' - after existing tiers currently in place failed to prevent the spread of coronavirus that has been driven by a new variant.

He also said that primary schools, secondary schools and colleges across the country will move to remote teaching from tomorrow, Tuesday - except for key workers' children and vulnerable children.

The PM said that the new restrictions will last at least six weeks, with schools shut until February half-term.

Johnson said the problem is not that schools are unsafe with children remaining unlikely to be affected by the new variant - but they can 'act as vectors for transmission'.

Mr Johnson continued by saying the collective efforts would have worked in fighting the old variant - but the variant is spreading at an alarming pace. It's between 50 per cent and 70 per cent more transmissible he said.

He explained that our hospitals are under more pressure than ever before – England's hospitalisations have increased by 30 per cent in the last week.

The PM said that on December 29, more than 80,000 people tested positive for Covid across the UK - a new record. Deaths are up by 20 per cent in the last week and will rise further.

It's clear we need to do more together, Johnson said.

"People must stay at home," Johnson said, adding: "You may only leave home for limited reasons - shop for essentials, work if you cannot work from home, exercise, seek medical care, or to escape domestic abuse."

The government made the decision after the UK saw a record high of 58,784 daily cases and 407 deaths.

However, there was a ray of hope when the PM mentioned that the pace of vaccination is accelerating with the new AstraZeneca jab rolled out on Monday.

The PM added that from the middle of February, 'if things go well', the government expected to have offered the first dose to everyone in the four top priority categories.

If we give these four groups the first dose, we will have removed huge numbers of people from the path of virus, Johnson added - with regions then starting to 'cautiously' move down the tiers.

"With every jab that goes into our arms we're tilting the odds away from Covid and in favour of the British people," Johnson said, adding that the end is in sight with the government knowing "exactly how we will get there."

Lockdown rules explained here.