Boris Johnson, Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Chris Whitty will address the nation in an emergency press conference on Saturday as fears over the Omicron coronavirus variant grow. The variant, which could potentially contain dangerous mutations to the virus's spike protein, has now been detected in the UK, despite flights from southern Africa being banned.

       The Prime Minister's address is expected to take place at 5pm on Saturday, November 27.

       All major news networks will carry the footage live, and you can follow our live blog here for real-time updates.

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       Downing Street has yet to release any early information ahead of the Prime Minister's address, but fears over a Christmas lockdown are growing.

       Professor Adam Finn, from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told Good Morning Britain that a change in rules was a "possibility".

       He said: "On the one hand, I don’t want to induce unnecessary anxiety in people, but on the other hand, I think we all need to be ready for the possibility of a change in the restrictions."

       He said more needed to be learned about the new variant before the full extent of required action became clear.

       He said: "If we’re lucky, it won’t be a serious one, but it could be very serious."

       Downing Street's latest line on the matter has been to insist there is "nothing in our current data to suggest that we need to move to Plan B" - the Government name for a return to restrictions over the winter.

       But this could all be about to change depending on how the Government plans to handle this new threat.

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       Scientists and experts are, however, calling for calm, and have said it will take a few weeks to determine whether this variant poses a serious threat to the population.

       A Sage scientist advising the Government, Professor Calum Semple, has said the new variant is "not a disaster" and some people may be "hugely overstating the situation".

       He said vaccines are "still likely to protect you from severe disease".

       He told BBC Breakfast: "This is not a disaster, and the headlines from some of my colleagues saying 'this is horrendous' I think are hugely overstating the situation.

       "Immunity from the vaccination is still likely to protect you from severe disease.

       "You might get a snuffle or a headache or a filthy cold but your chance of coming into hospital or intensive care or sadly dying are greatly diminished by the vaccine and still will be going into the future."

       The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that the new variant was being considered as "of concern".

       Several cases have been identified in Europe, including two in the UK and one in Belgium. Single suspected cases were also found in Germany and the Czech republic.