As well as refusing to provide the names of those issued with fines, Scotland Yard has said it will not give any details about the specific events. But throughout the pandemic the force issued press releases which contained the dates, times and addresses of lockdown breaches.

Despite police refusing to publish details of those who are issued with fixed penalty notices, Downing Street has said it will confirm whether Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, and Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, receive a fine.

However, no similar commitment was made to confirm if others, such as Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister’s wife, or senior Downing Street officials, are handed fines. Mr Johnson’s spokesman said they would clarify the situation regarding Mr Case given his “unique position”.

The spokesman said there was no requirement for officials who were fined to report it to their line managers.

However, he added: “The individuals who were thought to have been involved in the events have already been spoken to as part of the Civil Service investigation that Sue Gray led.

“She would be considering issues around compliance with the Civil Service code and people’s employment contracts rather than the law at the time which is what the Met investigation relates to.”

Boris Johnson denies misleading MPs

The Prime Minister’s spokesman also denied claims that Mr Johnson had misled MPs when he told them no lockdown rules had been broken, despite the fact fines are about to be issued.

The spokesman said: “At all times, he has set out his understanding of events. The Prime Minister has apologised to the House already.

“You can expect to hear more from the Prime Minister when the investigation is concluded and Sue Gray has set out her report.”

The spokesman also declined to say that Mr Johnson would resign if he is fined for breaking Covid laws, as Tory rebels indicated they would be reluctant to act against the Prime Minister while the war in Ukraine is ongoing.

On Tuesday, a Met spokesman said: “Unlike other incidents of Covid regulation breaches, the investigation under Operation Hillman remains ongoing, and as such we are not releasing further information at this time.

“At its conclusion, we will review what information can be released whilst still working to the principle of not releasing information that will lead to any individual being identified.”

During an online Q&A on Tuesday night, Dominic Cummings, the former Number 10 adviser, said he had not been questioned by the police as a “partygate” suspect and had not been fined.