Coronavirus: England set for national lockdown, PM says
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tonight ordered England back into a national lockdown after the United Kingdom passed the milestone of one million Covid-19 cases and a second wave of infections threatened to overwhelm the health service.
Johnson, at a news conference in Downing Street after news of a lockdown leaked to local media, said that the one-month lockdown across England would kick in after midnight on Thursday morning and last until 2 December.
The UK, which has the biggest official death toll in Europe from COVID-19, is grappling with more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day and scientists have warned the “worst case” scenario of 80,000 dead could be exceeded.
Just as in the first lockdown people will only be allowed to leave home for specific reasons such as education, work, exercise, shopping for essentials and medicines or caring for the vulnerable.
Wednesday vote
The measures are to be debated in the Commons this week and put to a vote on Wednesday, before coming into effect hours later.
“We must act now,” Johnson said, flanked by his chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and his chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance. “Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day.”
The government also U-turned on the extension of the furlough scheme to ensure workers who are temporarily laid off during a new England-wide lockdown receive 80% of their pay, he said.
Essential shops, schools, and universities will remain open, Johnson said, and while elite sports will continue, amateur sports for adults and children will be asked to stop.
Pubs and restaurants will be shut apart from for takeaways, and outbound international travel will be discouraged except for work. All non-essential retail will close.
The Prime Minister is said to have spent Friday meeting with ministers and aides after government scientists warned deaths were tracking well above the “worst-case scenario” that suggested 85,000 deaths this winter.
Circuit-breaker
Ministers had previously turned down plans for a two-week “circuit breaker” over half-term in favour of local restrictions, but a longer lockdown is now thought to be necessary to “save Christmas.”
The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies initially proposed the circuit breaker, which Wales has adopted, in mid-September in an attempt to reduce infection rates.
Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer echoed the calls for a circuit breaker national lockdown, but the Prime Minister said he preferred the regionalised schedule of tiered restrictions.
Cases have been surging across Europe, prompting new lockdown restrictions in Belgium, France and Germany.
Wales is currently under a “firebreak” lockdown with hospitality and tourism businesses closed, and in Scotland the majority of people will be under Level 3 of a new five-tier system from next week.