The warning came as Boris Johnson prepared to spell out his three-tier strategy on Monday with areas in England labelled as medium, high or very high risk

Ministers latest crackdown against the coronavirus, which will see large parts of the country plunged into tighter restrictions, could last through Christmas, a senior minister has said.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden warned that while he hoped the restrictions would have forced the virus under control before the Christmas season, that we could be in effect until early 2021.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will spell out his three-tier strategy on Monday with areas in England labelled as medium, high or very high risk, which will inform the “appropriate interventions” needed in each area.

Mr Dowden told Sky News: “The purpose of doing this is to ensure that we get the virus under control so that by the time we get through to after Christmas we are in that position where it’s under control.

“Indeed I hope it will be sooner than that.”

“The point of moving to this tiered system is so that in those most highly affected areas, we’ve got measures in place to control the virus,” he said.

“If those measures are successful, we hope to be able to take areas out of those higher levels of restrictions.”