RISHI REJECTS RAPID RESTRICTIONS
Chancellor says there’s no immediate need for Plan B – but jab expert warns of a ‘meltdown’ for hospitals
RISHI Sunak yesterday rejected demands for an immediate introduction of ‘Plan B’ restrictions despite warnings from senior scientists.
The Chancellor said the latest data ‘does not suggest’ any need to imminently reintroduce compulsory masks and advice to work from home.
But in a sign ministers could change course should infections continue to rise rapidly, he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘We will keep an eye on that and the plans are ready.’
His remarks came after the NHS recorded its biggest day yet for Covid booster jabs, with more than 325,000 people getting their third dose of vaccine on Saturday.
It means more than 800,000 people have received their vital third jab in just three days. Ministers are racing to ramp up the ailing booster programme to avert a crisis in the NHS.
But experts say a ‘winter meltdown’ is likely unless measures are rapidly reintroduced.
Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), yesterday warned Britain ‘can’t avoid’ another lockdown unless restrictions including social distancing measures are reimposed.
Speaking on Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme, Professor Finn said: ‘I would like to re-emphasise the fact that the vaccine programme in itself, in the current situation, is not enough to keep things under control.
‘We do need to have people using lateral flow tests, avoiding contact with large numbers of people in enclosed spaces, using masks.
‘All of those things now need to happen if we’re going to stop this rise [in cases] and get things under control soon enough to stop a real meltdown in the middle of winter.’ He added: ‘We can’t get complacent about this. This is a worsening situation in an NHS which is already under enormous pressure.
‘I worry the vaccine programme itself is suffering as a consequence of this suggestion that somehow the problem is gone and we can all go back to normal.
‘Absolutely we can avoid lockdowns, and the disasters that those bring. We all want to avoid that, but we can’t avoid it if we all just go back to normal now.’
Yesterday it emerged ministers are considering an ‘immediate’ rollout of Plan B restrictions, according to reports of a leaked memo.
The email was sent from the UK Health Security Agency to council leaders and directors of Public Health late last week, it is claimed.
The alleged document outlines measures that could be reintroduced under the plan, including working from home, vaccine passports for nightclubs and the return of legally mandated face masks.
But Mr Sunak said yesterday there are ‘no plans’ to bring in Plan B to tackle the spread of the virus.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘Well, the Prime Minister actually just said that we’re looking at the data all the time, as you would expect us to.
‘We’re monitoring everything, but at the moment the data does not suggest that we should be immediately moving to Plan B, but of course we will keep an eye on that and the plans are ready.’
When asked about the furlough scheme, and whether it will be brought back in the case of further restrictions, Mr Sunak replied: ‘That’s not on the cards because we don’t envisage having to impose significant economic restrictions in the way that we had to over the last year.
‘Of course we should always be humble in the face of this virus... but we have confidence in the vaccines, we’ve modelled all the scenarios... and the Plan B that we set out does not involve the same type of very significant economic restrictions that we saw previously.’
His comments did not go down well with some in the hospitality industry, who described his response as an ‘absolute joke’.
Grafton Fine Ales, a micro-brewery in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, tweeted yesterday: ‘An absolute joke of a reply. So it won’t hit hospitality then?
‘Of course it will. Just when we are trying to get back on our feet. Towns and cities are empty in many restaurants and pubs still.’
THE mood music is ominous and horribly familiar: Ministers consider tough new ‘plan-B’ coronavirus restrictions. The NHS warns of being overwhelmed. Four thousand troops are on standby. Scientists talk up a ‘lockdown Christmas’.
The strong implication is that Covid has again spiralled out of control and a return to oppressive restrictions is inevitable. But do the facts justify this growing panic?
Yes, there has been a surge in infections but hospitalisation rates are still lower than in early September and fatalities remain at 90 per cent below their peak.
The vast majority of those now dying are either unvaccinated, or very elderly with other problems. This doesn’t mean we mourn their deaths any less, but it underlines the need to turbocharge the faltering vaccination programme.
Take-up among under-30s has been sluggish at best, and, despite slight improvements of late, the booster jab campaign has been dangerously patchy.
The Government must reassert control and get people immunised – fast. That, not more stifling restrictions, is the way out this pandemic. And if they want to avert another winter crisis, ministers could start by tackling the worsening shortage of social care places, so the elderly don’t clog up hospital wards simply by default.