Weary Brits take to social media to find dark humour in the prospect of a new national lockdown 

Britons have mocked the prospect of a third national lockdown as Boris Johnson prepares to unveil a new set of restrictions across the country tonight in a desperate bid to control the new mutant coronavirus.  

Social media users mocked the looming measures which could see schools shut and households banned from mixing for months starting at midnight tonight as vaccines are rolled out across the country.

It comes as the Prime Minister prepares to outline his ‘next steps’ in a televised address to the nation tonight after the UK racked up another record high number of cases. 

Schools are set to be shut to all but vulnerable children but outdoor exercise will still be allowed. The Covid alert level is also being raised to the highest level of five. 

Taking to Twitter to share their thoughts on the approaching lockdown one user wrote: Prepping myself for another UK lockdown. Maybe a third time lucky…people might listen, the virus might go away. 

‘Who knows anymore. I’m just tired of it all. I miss hugs.’ 

Briton mocked the prospect of a third national lockdown which could see schools shut and households banned from mixing for months starting at midnight 

While another commented: ‘Yeah, but…no..but #lockdown number three.’ 

Another person joked: ‘Boris: ”I’ve got some food news and some bad news. The bad news is schools are closed, new national lockdown and all businesses to close, I know…gutting. The good news is there will be a new £1 for the Queens’s 95th birthday.’

Meanwhile another said: ‘I was supposed to get my braces off a year ago but it got cancelled because of  lockdown and I’m supposed to get my braces off in a week and we’ve just gone into another lockdown, pain.’

Elsewhere one added: ‘I prefer my endless lockdown to be honest.’ 

While another person wrote:  ‘They wasted the first lockdown not creating an effective system for testing, tracing and isolation, so not surprised they’ve wasted months not planning a rapid vaccine rollout.’

Earlier today a No10 spokesman said: ‘The spread of the new variant of COVID-19 has led to rapidly escalating case numbers across the country.

‘The Prime Minister is clear that further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protect the NHS and save lives. He will set those out this evening.’  

Figures from the Department of Health today showed there were another 58,784 new cases of coronavirus – a 42 per cent rise on last Monday. 

There was also 407 more deaths, which is up 14 per cent on the figure recorded last week. 

Some took to Twitter to mock the looming measures while others questioned the government’s constant U-turns

Nicola Sturgeon announced a drastic crackdown in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, with a legally-enforced stay at home order from midnight and schools north of the border set to stay closed until February.

Earlier, ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt also joined demands from Labour and Tory MPs for an immediate national squeeze with schools and borders shut and a ban on all household mixing.

Mr Hunt warned that the mutant Covid had put the NHS under ‘off the scale’ pressure compared to normal winters and the government ‘cannot afford to wait’ even one more day. 

The former Health Secretary posted on Twitter: ‘To those arguing winter is always like this in the NHS: you are wrong. I faced four serious winter crises as Health Sec and the situation now is off-the-scale worse than any of those.’

The looming measures could see schools shut and households banned from mixing for months starting at midnight 

Mr Hunt said the ‘No1 lesson’ from the pandemic is that countries can ‘save lives and get their economies back to normal faster’ if they ‘act early and decisively’.

‘We therefore cannot afford to wait: all schools should be closed, international travel stopped, household mixing limited and the tier system reviewed so that the highest tier really does bring down infection levels,’ Mr Hunt said.

‘The good news is that unlike before these restrictions will be time limited to the 12 weeks or so it will take to get the vaccine out to those most vulnerable to covid – so there is light at the end of the tunnel.’

Boris Johnson confirmed this morning that ‘tougher’ measures were coming despite the optimism sparked by the first Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine doses being administered.

Amid growing calls for action, the Prime Minister is set to unveil a new national lockdown tonight in a desperate bid to keep the mutant coronavirus at bay while vaccines are rolled out.