Nearly 56 million people in England will return to a full coronavirus lockdown, possibly until mid-February, to try to cut spiraling infection rates.

According to Prime Minister BORIS JOHNSON, the measures, which include the closure of primary and secondary schools, will come into effect Wednesday, after Scotland announced similar measures would come into force from midnight on Tuesday.

Some 44 million people or three-quarters of the population of England are already living under the toughest restrictions, as Britain grapples with one of the worst mortality rates from coronavirus in the world.

But they have failed to halt an upward trend in positive cases, which have been blamed on a more infectious new variant.