Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, said the UK has diverged from a four nations approach to tackling coronavirus.

"We are well off that," she told BBC Breakfast.

Addressing differences in measures restricting household gatherings across the UK, she said: "The differences are minor... but what I am concerned about is the mixing of households.

"In England it's six people from any household, but then children are included including a baby which doesn't quite make sense to me, and then in Scotland it's a maximum of two households.

"It's that inter-household mixing which is more risky from a public health perspective."
She said that "people are frustrated" and compliance with restrictions is not universal.

The measures are "relatively proportionate", she added, and she stressed that it is important to support older and more vulnerable groups.