Threat of national lockdown looms again
Shielding and school closures among tougher measures that could last until Easter and beyond
BORIS JOHNSON has put the country on notice that a third national lockdown may be imposed as it emerged that ministers are drawing up plans for the return of shielding.
England could be back in lockdown by the middle of this month, government sources suggested, prompting fears that the country will be kept in a straitjacket until at least Easter.
The Daily Telegraph understands that discussions have already begun about the return of shielding, and that a further announcement on school closures could come as soon as this week.
The Prime Minister refused to rule out personal restrictions last seen in the spring as he talked of the need to be “realistic” about the pace at which the virus was now spreading.
He told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country. I’m fully, fully reconciled to that; my bet is the people of this country are reconciled to that.” Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said a lockdown should begin today because the virus was “clearly out of control”, while government scientific advisers said tougher measures were needed.
Yesterday, 54,990 positive tests and 454 deaths were recorded.
Primary schools in some parts of the country are set to defy the Government and stay closed today. Mr Johnson insisted that schools were safe and that councils should abide by the Government’s advice to reopen, other than in those areas identified as Covid hotspots.
He said he remained confident that “things would be better” by the spring and that the roll-out of the Oxford-astraZeneca vaccine, which begins today, meant “we can see how we’re going to get out of this and with great clarity”.
He added: “What we are doing now is using the tiering system, which is a very tough system… and, alas, probably about to get tougher to keep things under control. But, we will review it.”
Whitehall sources said discussions were under way about the return of shielding – telling vulnerable people to stay indoors – and whether it could also be extended to people in specific age groups, such as the over-70s.
Last month the “clinically extremely vulnerable” were told they should stay at home if they live in Tier 4 areas.
MPS would have to approve a third lockdown, with some Tory MPS already signalling they would rebel. One backbencher said another lockdown would be “beyond ridiculous”.
Senior Whitehall sources said they expected more areas to be put into Tier 4 – which already covers 78 per cent of the population – but Mr Johnson made clear he was ruling nothing out.
Asked whether such measures could include curfews or restricting exercise, he said: “There are obviously a range of tougher measures that we would have to consider. I’m sure that all our viewers and our listeners will understand the sort of things … clearly school closures, which we had to do in March, is one of those things.” He added: “It is bumpy, it’s going to be bumpy.”
On whether exams would go ahead, Mr Johnson said: “We’ve got to be realistic about this, the pace with which this new variant has spread. And we’ve got to be humble in the face of this virus.”
Sir Desmond Swayne, the New Forest West MP, who has voted in the past against further lockdown restrictions, said: “What more pain do they want to cause us? What are they going to stop us doing now? Close down essential shops and the takeaways? The whole thing is madness … it’s going beyond ridiculous.” Sir Keir has told Mr Johnson to tighten restrictions within 24 hours, rather than hint that he will do so soon.
He said: “The virus is clearly out of control. We can’t allow the Prime Minister to use up the next two or three weeks and then bring in a national lockdown which is inevitable … do it now.”
Prof Sir Mark Walport, the former chief scientific adviser and a member of the Sage advisory group, warned “much tighter” measures were required. Asked if this included closing schools, he said: “We know that transmission occurs within schools. We know that a person
between 12 and 16 is seven times more likely than others in a household to bring the infection into a household.”
Mr Johnson said he wanted to keep schools open, but “we need to see whether those extra steps that we’ve taken in Tier 4 areas are going to work in driving the virus down ... we’ve got to keep things under constant review”.
A LABOUR MP has been forced to apologise after sharing false rumours that the vaccine minister had jumped the queue for a jab.
Dr Rosena Allin-khan publicly tweeted Nadhim Zahawi on Saturday to say she had heard rumours that he and his family had been vaccinated in Wandsworth.
In a series of tweets which she had since deleted, Dr Allin-khan, the MP for Tooting, wrote: “Nadhim, can you please tell us if it’s true? I really hope it’s not, unless you meet the necessary criteria. There are millions of vulnerable people waiting patiently in the queue.”
Dr Allin-khan then wrote a tweet aimed at discouraging people from “throwing unnecessary attacks against the minister”.
She said that she “did not know if this is true but I am hoping he will have the decency to answer”.
In a further tweet, she apologised for causing “a pile on”, which she said “was absolutely not my intention, and for that I apologise”.
A final tweet stated that she had deleted her previous tweets “which were inappropriate and wrong”.
Dr Allin-khan said: “I regret sharing unsubstantiated claims about the minister and I apologise to him and to his family.”
Mr Zahawi thanked Dr Allin-khan for her apology as he confirmed that the accusation was not true.
“It is sad you chose to act like this, we all need to work together to beat this awful disease,” he said.
Mr Zahawi was appointed health minister responsible for the deployment of the coronavirus vaccine by
Boris Johnson in November. It will last until at least next summer with Mr Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-uponAvon, t emporarily relinquishing responsibility for most areas of his brief at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Mr Zahawi previously wrote in The Telegraph that he was “delighted to be joining this Herculean effort, to protect our loved ones and the things we love, and get us on the road back to normal life”.