LOCK COULD GO ON UNTIL XMAS
FOUR-WEEK SHUTDOWN MAY BE EXTENDED, WARNS GOVE
BORIS JOHNSON’S nationwide lockdown could be extended beyond four weeks and into Christmas if cases fail to drop dramatically.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove said he could not rule out the measures remaining after December 2 and that they could only be relaxed if infections come down ‘sufficiently’. He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday that the data would be reviewed over coming weeks and said he hoped the ‘R rate’ would be ‘significantly reduced’ by next month. Asked if the shutdown – due to start on Thursday – could be extended, he replied: ‘Yes.’ Former chief scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport told the same programme it was a ‘possibility’ that England would still be in lockdown at Christmas.
Their comments came after
the prime minister made another U-turn on Saturday and announced that a lockdown would replace his regional three-tier system in England.
Mr Johnson came under fire from MPs on both sides. Some backbench Tories believe the government is going too far. Labour said lives could have been saved if the PM had listened to advice from Sage and taken tougher action weeks ago.
Under the new measures, people must stay at home, only going out for exercise, food shopping or if they have to attend their workplace. All ‘nonessential’ shops, restaurants, pubs and hospitality venues will be shut.
The PM decided to act after figures showed Covid-19 was spreading faster than even ‘worst case scenario’ forecasts, with fears the second wave could be deadlier than the first.
But he is expected to tell MPs today that the measures will be eased in time for the festive season. ‘At the end of four weeks, we will seek to ease restrictions, going back into the tiered system on a local and regional basis according to the latest data and trends,’ he will say.
A total of 23,254 new Covid-19 cases and 162 deaths were recorded in the UK yesterday. Labour confirmed that it would support the PM’s lockdown plan, which will be voted on by MPs on Wednesday. But a number of Tory backbenchers have suggested they may oppose the measures.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the powerful 1922 committee, told BBC Radio 4’s The Westminster Hour he is likely to vote against the restrictions.
He said that the ‘repetitive cycle’ of lockdowns is ‘immensely damaging to people’s livelihoods, is deeply depressing and is causing a huge toll in terms of people’s mental health and family relationships’.
He added: ‘We even have the government telling people who they are allowed to sleep with or not depending on whether they are deemed to be in an established relationship or not.
‘If these kinds of measures were being taken in any totalitarian country around the world, we would be denouncing it as a form of evil.’
Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government should have listened to his party’s call for a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown last month. The failure to take advantage of schools being closed during half-term was a missed opportunity, he added.
He told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: ‘The lockdown now will be longer, it’ll be harder, we’ve just missed halfterm and there’s a very human cost to this. On the day that Sage recommended a circuit-break, the daily death rate was 11, yesterday it was 326.’
Sir Keir said it was vital the government fixed its ‘busted’ test and trace scheme during the lockdown, adding: ‘I’m so frustrated at the incompetence of the government... [It] was too slow in the first phase of the pandemic and now it’s being too slow again.’