London (AFP)

Boris Johnson is preparing to announce next week a re-containment in England until December 1, abandoning the local approach he defended until then in the face of the strong spread of the new coronavirus, several dailies reported on Saturday.

According to the Times, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce at a press conference Monday a re-containment from Wednesday until December 1 in England, where the virus is spreading very quickly.

Non-essential businesses will close but nurseries, schools and universities will remain open, according to the daily.

Pubs and restaurants would close for weeks, dealing another blow to an industry already badly affected by the pandemic, The Daily Mail reported.

According to the tabloid, the Tory leader has been pressured by his science advisers to act to bring the pandemic to a halt and allow families to reunite for Christmas.

The pandemic has already claimed more than 46,000 lives in the United Kingdom, the most bereaved country in Europe, which is on the verge of exceeding one million cases.

However, government sources told The Times and The Telegraph that a final decision has yet to be made, with Boris Johnson initially planning to convene his cabinet to secure the support of his ministers.

It would be a turnaround for the Tory leader, who has so far resisted calls to reconfine England, even for a short period of two to three weeks, as the opposition Labor Party has suggested.

Confined in one block on March 23 during the first wave, the United Kingdom then favored a local approach.

In England, a three-level alert level determines the restrictions imposed on each region.

More than half of the population in England is currently under restrictions.

If Boris Johnson announces a reconfinement, England would thus follow France, reconfined until December 1.

Belgium also announced more severe containment on Friday, and Germany also tightened the restrictions in place in the country to slow the pandemic.

- "Disastrous" for the hotel and catering industry -

In its latest report released on Friday, the National Statistics Office (ONS) revealed that England experienced nearly 52,000 new cases of Covid-19 a day last week, a 47% increase from the week former.

The number of infections and hospitalizations in England has surpassed the worst-case scenario, wrote scientists from the Sage group, which advises the government, in a note written on October 14 and published on Friday.

"Nobody + wants + lockdown, myself included," Sage committee member Jeremy Farrar said on Twitter.

"But we quickly passed the worst-case scenario, we are further along in the epidemic than many had anticipated," he said, calling for "act now".

"We must stop the spread of the virus, because if we do not do it, we will overwhelm the health service and neither of us want it," also pleaded on the BBC Professor Anthony Gordon, expert in intensive care at the Imperial College London.

The economic and social consequences of a new confinement are particularly feared.

The IMF is already forecasting a contraction in UK GDP of 10.4% in 2020.

For the hotel and catering industry, a re-containment would have "disastrous" consequences, reacted on Twitter Kate Nicholls, general manager of UK hospitality, calling for financial support to overcome this new ordeal.

Each British province decides on its own strategy against the pandemic.

Wales' more than three million people are the first Britons to be returned to lockdown, at least until November 9.

In mid-October, Northern Ireland closed pubs and restaurants for a month and decided to extend the school holidays.

Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford said the UK government must discuss with local government officials a "common approach by Christmas" across the UK.

© 2020 AFP