Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SMALL STEPS TO NORMAL LIFE
Restrictions will be lifted ‘cautiously’ as health chiefs warn against going too fast
LOCKDOWN will be lifted with “caution” and “in stages”, Boris Johnson has promised.
Health chiefs urged the PM not to relax curbs too quickly.
He aims to make the end of this lockdown “irreversible”.
NHS leaders and scientists have urged Boris Johnson to focus on “data, not dates” when he brings the country out of lockdown.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers wrote to the PM telling him to “resist pressure to loosen restrictions” before it was safe.
Citing Office for National Statistics data which estimated that 695,400 people in England had Covid-19 in the first week of February, he warned: “There is a pretty clear view that number needs to come down to around 50,000.”
Mr Hopson feared the health service would remain “at full stretch” for at least another six weeks.
Giving evidence to the Commons Science Committee, Prof Dame
Angela Mclean, professor of mathematical biology at Oxford University and the Ministry of Defence’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said unlocking should be based on evidence, not a timetable.
She said: “Let’s use data, not dates. The important issue is to really watch very closely what is happening, so that if infections start to increase, we do everything we can to decide whether it is a good moment to take another step in unlocking.”
Data last night showed another 1,415 Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital – down 26% on the weekly average. Some 20,944 coronavirus patients remained in hospital. Officials recorded another 12,718 cases, the seven-day average down 24%.
The coronavirus death toll rose by 738 to 118,933. A total of 15,940,972 first vaccine doses have been given.
Prime Minister will address the Commons on Monday, outlining a timetable for easing what he hopes will be the final lockdown thanks to the success of the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
On a visit to a vaccination centre in Cwmbran, South Wales, he said: “It’ll be based firmly on a cautious and prudent approach to coming out of lockdown in such a way to be irreversible. We want to be going one way from now on.”
He indicated that pubs and restaurants would be slow to fully reopen.
He said: “You perhaps remember from last year that we opened up hospitality fully as one of the last things we did because there is obviously an extra risk of transmission from hospitality.”
British Beer and Pub Association chief executive Emma Mcclarkin called for clarity.
She said: “The uncertainty and speculation surrounding the reopening of pubs is hugely unsettling for a sector already on its knees.
“We urge the Government to commit to a road map which sees pubs reopen, indoors and out, alongthe
non-essential retail. By then, the vaccine will have been rolled out to millions more and pubs can open whilst continuing to follow exemplary hygiene measures.
“Until then, the Government must do all it can in the upcoming Budget to support our sector until it opens to trade properly.”
Mark Woolhouse, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Edinburgh University, told Science Committee MPS days at the beach should be one of the first activities to be allowed. He said: “Over the summer, we saw pictures of crowded beaches and there was an outcry. There were no outbreaks linked to crowded beaches. There’s never been a Covid-19 outbreak linked to a beach ever anywhere in the world, to the best of my knowledge.
“We do have to understand where the risks are and aren’t so we can do as much as possible safely.”
MPS also heard people would expect to be allowed to go to the footside ball once all adults had been vaccinated.
Prof Woolhouse said there was “very little evidence of outdoor transmission”. Former England captain Bryan Robson, 64, got his jab yesterday, as did Coronation Street actress Sally Dynevor, 57.
On current trends, all UK adults will be offered a first injection by April, with second vaccine doses completed over the summer.
Prof Sir John Bell, of the UK Vaccine Taskforce, said inoculated people will expect to get back to activities such as going to football.
He said: “It’s not possible in a world where we’ve vaccinated the whole country that everyone will believe that we’re in a place that we were six months ago.
“So we are going to have to allow people to adapt their behaviours appropriately if they’ve had a vaccine.”
It was reported that in one scenario being examined, self-catering holiday lets and big hotels would reopen for Easter.
In May, restaurants and pubs could open with two households allowed to mix indoors and a “rule of six” for outdoor meals and drinks.
The report speculated that in June outlets could be allowed to expand to a rule of six indoors, and leisure and tourism could be “broadly” back to normal in July.