THE govenment will announce new restrictions for England today after coronavirus infection rates continue to climb.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said the government was taking “reluctant steps” with the new coronavirus measures, but added that they are “absolutely necessary”.

“There will be more details that the Prime Minister will spell out, and again, one of the points that he’ll make is that no one wants to do these things, no one wants to take these steps,” he told Sky News.

“They are reluctant steps that we’re taking, but they are absolutely necessary.

“Because as we were reminded yesterday, and as you’ve been reporting, the rate of infection is increasing, the number of people going to hospital is increasing, and therefore we need to act.”

Measures look certain to include ordering pubs and restaurants to close at 10am and restrictions on social gatherings including putting plans to allow spectators at sport events on hold.

When asked about evidence around the 10pm hospitality curfew, Mr Gove told BBC Breakfast: “There is evidence that the longer venues stay open, the greater degree of social mixing that takes place.

“So, placing a restriction like this is something that we’ve already done in parts of the country where the virus has been spreading particularly fast.”

He added: “I think it will make a difference, but I think that there are other steps that require to be taken as well, and the Prime Minister will be saying more to the House of Commons.”

Mr Gove said people should now work from home if they can, in efforts to “restrain” social mixing as much as possible.

“If people can work from home, they should,” he told BBC Breakfast.

“But I stress that it’s very important that those people whose jobs require them to be in a specific workplace do so.”

He added that it was not a case of “revisiting the days at the beginning of our response to this virus” as “workplaces are safer”, adding: “But one of the risks that we have to face is that social mixing overall contributes to the spread of the virus.

“So as much as we can restrain that as possible at this stage, the better for all of us and for public health.”