Boris Johnson will lead a Downing Street press conference at 5pm, Downing Street has confirmed.

The Prime Minister will be joined by England’s chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

The Downing Street update comes as the NHS is facing significant pressure as it copes with the latest wave of Covid-19 despite hopes that cases should start to drop in the coming weeks.

Boris Johnson will lead a Downing Street press conference as No 10 admitted that the health service is facing a “difficult time” during a “challenging winter”.

Officials in Whitehall are keeping an “extremely close eye” on hospital capacity, with admissions and occupancy “increasing significantly”.

Boris Johnson on Plan B Covid update

Downing Street insisted the Plan B measures in place in England remain the right approach despite tougher restrictions in other parts of the UK.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’re not seeing that same jump in beds requiring ventilation, which is pleasing, and almost certainly a function of both the nature of Omicron and our successful booster programme.”

He added that the vaccinations and “evidence that Omicron may be milder” means “we are not seeing those huge waves in cases translate into those needing the most serious care that we saw perhaps in previous waves, but that still puts the NHS under significant pressure”.

Watch Boris Johnson announcement live

What channel is Boris Johnson on tonight

The press conference will be broadcast on BBC, ITV, Sky News and other major news channels. It will also be available to stream on social media.