Acknowledging pain of lockdown

ALL AREAS: Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he is ‘under no illusions’ about how difficult a second lockdown will be on England.

In a speech on Saturday alongside Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, and Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser, Johnson conceded that ‘no responsible PM could ignore the message’ of worrying projected virus figures presented by his aides.

Tables and charts shown by Whitty and Vallance outlined a predicted increase over the next six weeks in England’s ‘R’ infection rate, hospital admissions and deaths – close or worse than the peak levels in the spring.

Johnson said: “When I told you that we were pursuing a local and regional approach to tackling this virus – I still believe passionately that was the right thing to do, because we know the cost of these restrictions.

“No one wants to be imposing these kinds of measures anywhere. Our hope was that by strong local action, we could get the rates of infection down where the disease was surging.”

He added his thanks to the ‘millions’ of people who have been putting up with restrictions in their areas.

“But we have got to be humble in the face of nature,” Johnson said. “Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day. Now is the time to take action.”