The change effectively drags millions of people into the ‘moderate’ risk group for coronavirus – which previously applied to all over-70s. Government guidance got the finer details wrong and was quietly corrected last night

All over-60s in England should now follow the same lockdown rules as the “clinically vulnerable”, the government has said.

The government has extended guidance to “be especially careful” which previously applied to all over-70s.

The rule was briefly referenced by Boris Johnson without any further explanation in his press conference on Saturday.

Official guidance then got the finer details of the policy wrong for 24 hours before being quietly corrected last night.

The change hauls up to 5.9m people aged 60-69 into slightly stricter lockdown guidance than the rest of the population.

Over-60s and the ‘clinically vulnerable’ are being asked to “be especially careful to follow the rules and minimise your contacts with others”.