Public urged to ‘keep going’ despite calls to ease lockdown
PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK is “past the peak” of the coronavirus outbreak, adding “we are on a downward slope”.
He also promised to deliver a “comprehensive plan” next week to set out the UK Government’s vision for “how we can get our economy moving”, as well as how people in England might travel to work and how children across the border can go back to school or into childcare.
Mr Johnson was leading his first Downing Street press briefing since recovering from coronavirus.
Just an hour before yesterday evening’s briefing, he urged Britain to “keep going so we can protect our NHS and save lives” amid suggestions the UK lockdown will continue until June.
In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister reiterated calls for people to stick with the lockdown, saying he understood how “hard and how stressful it has been” to not see family and friends, to worry about jobs and to manage children not in school.
With the UK’s Covid-19 death toll now the third highest in the world after the US and Italy, Downing Street also played down any expectations of an easing of restrictions.
A total of 26,771 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community in the UK after contracting Covid-19, a rise of 674 deaths on the previous day’s figures.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman hinted measures would stay in place when asked about reports that the lockdown may be extended until June.
He told a Westminster briefing: “What you’ve obviously heard from (England’s chief medical officer) Chris Whitty is that this is a disease that is going to be around for a significant amount of time – he’s said we have to be realistic, we’re going to have to do a lot of things for a long period of time.”
The spokesman added: “Let’s not pre-empt the review but, as the PM himself has said, the worst thing we could do is relax the social distancing measures too soon and throw away all of the progress which has been made thanks to the hard work and sacrifice of the British public.”
But this response is facing further criticism as Health Secretary Matt
Hancock’s deadline arrived for carrying out 100,000 Covid-19 tests a day.
With just over 52,000 tests carried out on Tuesday, the deadline looked set to be missed although that will not become clear until today.
The target has been condemned by NHS Providers as a “red herring” which distracts from shortcomings in the long-term coronavirus strategy.
Downing Street insisted the Government was “working hard” to hit its 100,000 test target by the end of the day.
The PM’s spokesman said that as of April 28, testing capacity had been increased to 77,365 and told a Westminster briefing: “The target is for 100,000 tests today and the Health Secretary and all of his team are working hard to hit it.”
Yesterday morning, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland acknowledged the 100,000 target may not be met.
“Even if it isn’t met, we’re well on our way to ramping this up and 100,000 is an important milestone, but frankly we need more,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“If he (Matt Hancock) hadn’t set a target he would have been criticised for being unambitious. I think now is the time in respect of this to be bold... being brave is something we should acknowledge even if the target isn’t met today.”
The testing deadline was reached as:
■ an international clinical trial, coled by University College London and the UK’s Medical Research Council, found the ebola drug remdesivir speeds up recovery from coronavirus by almost a third;
■ the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca
joined forces for the largescale manufacture and distribution of Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine if it is proven to work during clinical trials; and
■ Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s and banking group Lloyds warned of hits to profits from the coronavirus crisis.
Yesterday’s Cabinet and a gathering of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) came as Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that easing lockdown would not be a “flick of the switch moment”.
Sage is looking at a selection of options for easing restrictions while keeping the reproduction rate of the coronavirus – the number of new cases linked to a single individual – below one to stop it spreading exponentially.
Germany saw a rise in that rate after easing its own lockdown.
With some Tory backbenchers pressing for an easing of measures for the sake of the economy, Business Secretary Alok Sharma is set to put forward plans for an eventual “workplace by workplace” approach.
A Business Department spokesman said: “The Government has already set out five clear tests to consider before making any adjustment to its approach.
“It is only right the we work together with industry and unions to ensure workplaces are safe for both those in work now and for those going back to work as Government measures develop.”
But Ms Sturgeon said on Wednesday night that she was “far from convinced” measures could be eased on the next review date of May 7.
“People talk about lifting the lockdown, that is not going to be a flick of the switch moment – we’re going to
have to be very careful, very slow, very gradual.
“I’m far from convinced at this stage that when we get to the next review point on May 7 we’ll be in a position to lift any of these measures right now, because the margins of manoeuvre that we’re operating in right now are very, very, very tight and narrow.” The
UK death toll is currently the third highest in the world, behind the US and Italy, based on data from Johns Hopkins University.
As of yesterday evening, the US had reported 61,717 deaths and Italy 27,967.
The UK Government has pointed out other countries may report figures differently and any lag is unclear, although France and Italy also include deaths in care homes.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson also paid tribute to the NHS during yesterday’s briefing.
The Prime Minister, whose fiancee Carrie Symonds gave birth to a son on Wednesday, said: “I want to thank everybody who has been doing such a good job in my absence, and I want to thank the NHS for so much – including getting me back here and, I might add, a very much happier hospital visit yesterday.”
Mr Johnson said: “Families every day are continuing to lose loved ones before their time, we grieve for them and with them, but as we grieve, we are strengthened in our resolve to defeat this virus to get this whole country back to health, back on its feet.”
Number 10 said a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day would look at the “response in general” but not make any decisions on lockdown measures.