Boris: ‘Winter is going to be tough’
BORIS JOHNSON said he is working flatout to make Christmas as normal as possible, but he warned of a “tough winter” in the battle against coronavirus.
The Prime Minister said there will be “bumpy” months ahead, though he hopes the situation will be “radically different” by spring.
He said people should behave “fearlessly” but with common sense as the UK struggles to both contain the virus and keep the economy going.
In a BBC Andrew Marr Show interview to coincide with the Conservative Party conference, Mr Johnson also admitted frustration with failings in the NHS Test and Trace programme while also blaming revellers who “hobnob” outside pubs for chaotic scenes in town and city centres following the 10pm curfew.
He continued to reject Tory attacks on the limits imposed on people’s freedoms as part of the effort to tackle the spread of Covid-19. More than a third of people in the UK currently live under some form of extra restriction following an increase in coronavirus cases.
On the national stage, England’s “rule of
six” – which covers young children, unlike similar restrictions in Wales and Scotland – poses a major threat to many families’ Christmas plans.
Mr Johnson said: “If you ask me, ‘Do I think things can be significantly different by Christmas?’, [then] yes I do, and we’re working flat out to achieve that.
“But be in no doubt that it is still very possible that there are bumpy, bumpy months ahead.
“This could be a very tough winter for all of us – we’ve got to face that fact.”
Mr Johnson suggested the picture could be “radically different” by spring 2021.
The Prime Minister said new treatments are now available, adding: “We will find all sorts of ways, I’m absolutely sure, particularly through mass testing programmes, of changing the way that we tackle this virus.”
But he acknowledged the existing NHS Test and Trace service, run by Tory peer Baroness Harding, is not perfect.
Just 38.1% of people tested for Covid-19 in England in the week ending September 23 at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit – a so-called “in-person” test – received their result within the 24-hour target set by the Prime Minister.
He conceded: “It is not perfect, I’m not going to claim it’s perfect. Am I frustrated with it? Yes, of course I’m frustrated with it.”
But he stressed he does not blame NHS Test and Trace, adding: “I take full responsibility for the service, by international comparators it is really very, very good indeed.”
A further 28 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, NHS England said yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 30,166.
Patients were aged between 69 and 94 years old, it added. All had underlying health conditions.