A pedestrian walks past a sign displaying a message to wear a face covering in central London on Wednesday. AFP

Tighter COVID-19 lockdowns could be imposed on more parts of northern England by the British government on Thursday and Health Secretary Matt Hancock will address parliament, a minister said.

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Asked on Sky if Manchester and parts of Lancashire would be placed into tier three, the highest level of local lockdown, junior business minister Nadhim Zahawi said:

"Well, as I say, I'm not going to speculate. Matt Hancock is going to make a statement to parliament as to where we are at but you can clearly see the numbers."

Pedestrians walk past a NHS sign displaying guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic in London. AFP

On the other side, British home furnishing retailer Dunelm posted a 37 per cent jump in first-quarter sales on Thursday as it benefited from higher online demand for its homewares, as well as in-store recovery following the initial round of lockdowns.

Shares in the company were seen up 3 per cent to 5 per cent ahead of market open, according to premarket indicators.

The company, which was founded in 1979 as a market stall business, said it expected gross margin to be slightly positive for the year, barring any impacts from coronavirus-related disruption or restrictions.