MATT Hancock has warned England’s lockdown could be extended beyond December 2 – fuelling fears of a ruined Christmas.

The Health Secretary said last night it was “too early to know” if the current Covid restrictions have worked.

Mr Hancock hinted the next week will be crucial, as cases should start to fall if “lockdown is working”.

He said: “It is too early for us to know what the number of cases will be, as we come to the end of the current lockdown.

“At the moment most of the tests that we’re getting back and most of the positive cases are from around the time when the lockdown came in.

“It’s too early to expect to see in the data the impact of the second lockdown, but we absolutely hope to be able to replace the national lockdown with a tiered system.”