Britain is entering a second wave of coronavirus, Boris Johnson has said as scientists expressed fears the death toll could be as high as in the first spike without a rapid change in public behaviour.

Speaking during a visit to Oxfordshire, Johnson said: ''We are now seeing a second wave coming in. We’ve seen it in France, in Spain, across Europe. It’s been absolutely inevitable, I’m afraid, that we would see it in this country.''

He added: ''We want to keep the schools open – that’s going to happen. And we’ll try and keep all parts of the economy open, as far as we possibly can. I don’t think anybody wants to go into a second lockdown''.