Boris Johnson has said the four-week coronavirus lockdown in England will be enough to have a “real impact” on the spread of the disease.

The Prime Minister told a No 10 news conference that while many people were “anxious, weary and fed up” the measures were strictly time-limited.

“The advice I have received suggests that four weeks is enough for these measures to make a real impact,” he said.

“These rules will expire and on December 2 we plan to move back to a tiered approach. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

“These are difficult times. While it pains me to have to ask once again once again for so many to give up so much, I know we can get through this.”

On the subject of Christmas, he said people should be able to have “as normal as Christmas as possible” if they follow the lockdown measures.

“If we follow this package of measures in the way that we can and we have done before, I have no doubt people will be able to have as normal a Christmas as possible and that we will be able to get things open before Christmas as well."

He was joined in today's news conference by NHS chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.

He said: “This second wave of coronavirus is real and it’s serious.

“The health service has been working incredibly hard to prepare and to catch up on the care that was disrupted during the first wave.

Sir Simon added: “11,000 coronavirus patients that we have got in hospital compares with 3,000 patients that we would typically have in hospital on any one day during a very bad winter flu season, for flu.

“It compares with about 7,000 patients who’d be in hospital today being looked after for cancer.”

Asked whether he could count on his own Conservative MPs to support future restrictions once the lockdown is lifted or whether he would be forced to rely on Labour votes,  the Prime Minister said: “I’m very, very grateful to MPs for voting through the measures that we did yesterday and I believe that I’m right in saying that the Government was able to do it with its own votes, but obviously it was good that this was a measure that was supported by people across all political parties, and that’s the right way forward in this country. ”

There were 32 Conservative rebels, along with two tellers, in the vote on Wednesday to pass the lockdown measures for England.

A further 18 Tories – including former prime minister Theresa May – did not vote.