Raab: Don’t take foot off the pedal on lockdown
It’s ‘too early’ to review strict social distancing measures, but UK ‘may’ be making progress on slowing virus spread, writes Westminster Correspondent Hannah Rodger
STRICT social distancing measures are set to remain, however the UK “may” be making progress in slowing the spread of coronavirus.
Dominic Raab, deputising for Boris Johnson while he recovers in intensive care, said it was too early for a review of the lockdown measures implemented three weeks ago, and continued to urge people to stay inside.
Despite prior commitments to review the isolation measures this week, Mr Raab said the country should not “take its foot off the pedal”.
During the daily press briefing, the Foreign Secretary said: “In terms of the review, we are not at that stage yet.
“We will take any decision when the time is right, based on the facts and the scientific and medical advice.
“Our number one and overriding focus right now is on conveying the key message which is that everyone needs to keep adhering to this guidance.
“There is a long Easter bank holiday weekend coming up, warm weather and we understand people are making big sacrifices to follow this guidance.
“It is helping, it is contributing to our ability to tackle the coronavirus.
“The worst thing now would be to take our foot off the peddle, to ease up on that and risk losing the gains that have been made.
“It is absolutely critical that people keep up that discipline and the vast majority will. We hope everyone will follow that example.”
He added that lifting or loosening the measures was based on when the UK passes its peak of infection, and said: “The critical thing is to take evidencebased decisions and so we’ve said that we will take any review once we’ve got the evidence that the measures are working. And having the kind of impact taking past the peak which means that they can be responsibly done. We’re not at that stage yet.”
Mr Raab said he was entirely confident in his ability to lead the Government while Boris Johnson is unwell, and it emerged yesterday that Rishi Sunak would take the reigns should the Foreign Secretary also become incapacitated.
He said there was “collective cabinet responsibility” for decision making, and explained that the cabinet has been given “very clear instructions” from the Prime Minister whilst he remains in hospital.
He said: “Decision making by Government is made by collective Cabinet responsibilities, so that is the same as before.
“But we’ve got very clear directions, very clear instructions from the Prime Minister, and we’re focused with total unity and total resolve on implementing them so that when he’s back, I hope in very short order, we will have made the progress that he would expect and that the country would expect.”
When challenged over whether he was up to the task of making the final say, in the case of any disagreement, he said: “I’ve got total confidence in the arrangements that the Prime Minister has put in place so that I can discharge responsibility in deputising for him while he’s out of action. Obviously we hope that will be for a very limited period of time.”
Asked if the Government is on course to ensure that 100,000 tests per day will be carried out, Mr Raab said: “On the most recent data that’s been released on tests, there were 14,000 in a single day so that shows progress.
“We’ve had 7,500 NHS workers and their families tested and we’ve got nine drive-through sites currently operational in Nottingham, Chessington, Greenwich, Wembley, Sandwell, Manchester, Belfast, Edgbaston and Glasgow, and Cardiff will be the tenth which will be open shortly.
“So we are making progress on that.” He confirmed the 100,000 figure, announced last week by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock was still valid and the Government was working towards that.
Chief Medical Officer Professor
Chris Whitty said there were “a large number of different things” to account for when deciding to lift any lockdown measures.
He explained: “It’s really important that we get to the point that we’re all confident that we’re beyond the peak and then at that point start making it clear what combination of things and over what period of time seems a sensible combination to take us through.
“Because as I said yesterday there are a large number of different things we need to take into account here in terms of the impact on health. The direct effects of the virus itself and also the indirect effects on the health service more widely.”
Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, said it would take another week, at least, to determine if the strict distancing measures are working, but hinted that the number of new cases being detected could be slowing down.
He said the number of new confirmed cases “could be moving in the right direction” but stressed that longer-term data is needed.
Sir Vallance explained: “What you can see is there is not that big upswing of growth that we talked about at the beginning. There is a fairly steady increase in numbers. It’s possible that we’re beginning to see the beginning of change in terms of the curve flattening a little bit.
“We won’t know that for sure for a week or so, but what we’re not seeing is an acceleration.
“It does begin to suggest that things might be moving in the right direction in terms of numbers and it’s important that we carry on with the measures that we have got in place in order to make sure that this does go in the right direction.”
As of Monday at 5pm, 6,159 patients have died in hospitals across the UK after testing positive for the virus, including 296 in Scotland.
It’s really important that we get to the point that we’re all confident that we’re beyond the peak