The end is in sight at long last

IN a year when we’ve all put up with so much, today many people in England are waking up to better news.

For the first time in a month, our shops are getting ready for a day’s business and gyms are opening their doors again.

Everyone can do more today than they could yesterday under national restrictions. This has been made possible by the incredible sacrifices of the British people.

But I know some of the measures are tough. With the local restrictions, people in some tiers can do things others can’t. I understand it doesn’t always feel fair. But we can’t give up now.

These decisions are based on local data that lets us see what is happening with the virus in that area.

Suffering

There are still more than 15,000 people in hospital with Covid and almost 500 are still dying every day. We’ve got to see this through; not just for the people suffering from this horrible virus but, with flu season just around the corner, we must also think of our NHS doctors and nurses working night and day to keep us all safe.

The end is in sight and there are three things that can get us there. The first is to keep following the rules where you are.

The second is community testing. We’re working with areas in Tier 3 to give them a quick way out of the toughest restrictions. We want to find the people who have Covid, so we can stop them passing it on to anyone else. If you’re offered a test, please take it.

The final one is, of course, a vaccine. Our NHS stands ready to deploy a vaccine as soon as possible fairly to all parts of the UK. As we make more and more people safe with an effective vaccine, we can remove restrictions that have made this year so hard.