London could be moved into the highest tier of coronavirus restrictions within hours rather than days, after cases in the capital spiked to more than 4,000 per day.

The daily number of new people who tested positive for Covid-19 in London was 4,166 on 13 December, while the number of people in hospitals was 2,092. This marked the second consecutive day of data on which new cases reached over 4,000, jumping from around 2,500 cases per day earlier last week.