Mr Johnson’s briefing is expected to focus on the country’s testing regime

Boris Johnson will hold a press conference in Downing Street at 5pm today, No 10 has confirmed.

The press conference is expected to focus on the UK’s testing regime which has seen extensive growth in the last few months – and which Mr Johnson has identified as a route out of the crisis.

It is understood that today’s press conference will be part of a wider plan by Downing Street to inform the public during the second lockdown.

And while we are not expecting a return to the daily briefings seen in March and April, we are expecting at least two more updates this week.

Mr Johnson is aiming to introduce mass testing across the UK with trials for the programme ongoing in Liverpool and Salford.

But despite ambitious targets for tests, health chiefs are considered that their value will be diminished if the tracking operation run by NHS test and trace does not improve.