Prime minister Boris Johnson will lead a Downing Street press conference on coronavirus on Wednesday afternoon.

The press conference is due to be held at 5pm.

It comes as passengers arriving into England face fines of up to £10,000 for failing to quarantine, and those who lie on their passenger locator forms face up to 10 years in jail.

UK nationals or residents returning to England from 33 “red list” countries will be required to spend 10 days in a Government-designated hotel.

Earlier today, England’s deputy chief medical officer expressed concern about the take-up of Covid vaccines in minority ethnic groups as he condemned “nonsense” stories that circulate on social media about jab safety.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told BBC viewers during a Q&A session that the virus does not discriminate or “care about the colour of your skin”.

He said: “I have concerns that uptake in the minority ethnic groups is not going to be as rapid or as high as in the indigenous white population of the UK.

“And this really concerns me because the big message I have for everyone listening is that this virus just doesn’t care what ethnic background you’re from.

“It just doesn’t care about the colour of your skin or where you live in the world or any of these things, it just cares that you’re a human being, that you don’t have immunity and that you’re susceptible.

“And this is really worrying, it’s a massive concern to people who are older and people who have higher risk conditions. The virus does not discriminate.”

Mr Johnson is due to set out a 'road map' on February 22 giving details on how England's lockdown restrictions will ease.