New Year lockdown if we can’t control ourselves over Christmas
Boris Johnson has warned for the first time that the UK could face another national lockdown next year if coronavirus runs out of control again.
Speaking at a press conference in which the country was advised not to kiss or hug elderly relatives, the Prime Minister said: ‘If we ease off now, we risk losing control… forcing us back into a new year national lockdown with all the damage that would mean.’
It comes as English people were told which tier of restrictions they would enter when the country emerges from lockdown on Wednesday, December 2. However, those those rules will not apply for five days over Christmas, when restrictions are relaxed, sparking fears of a growth in cases.
Experts have long warned that any easing of measures is likely to lead to a rise in infections and potentially another lockdown. But tonight appears to have been the first time that the PM has publicly hinted that such a step could be necessary if Covid-19 starts spreading exponentially again.
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The PM said sorry for the effect that the incoming measures would have.
But, he said: ‘If we ease off now we risk losing control over this virus all over again, casting aside our hard-won gains and forcing us back into a new year national lockdown with all the damage that would mean.
‘I know this will bring a great deal of heartache and frustration especially for our vital hospitality sector.
‘I really wish it were otherwise but if we are going to keep schools open, as we must, then our options in bearing down on the disease are necessarily limited.
‘There is no doubt that the restrictions in all tiers are tough and I am sorry about that.’
England’s Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, stressed that people should not hug and kiss their relatives at Christmas ‘if you want them to survive to be hugged again’.
He said: ‘Would I want someone to see their family? Of course, that’s what Christmas is about..
‘But would I encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? No, I would not.
‘It is not against the law – and that’s the whole point. You can do it in the rules that are there but it does not make sense because you could be carrying the virus and if you’ve got an elderly relative, that would not be the thing you want to do.
‘I think people just have to have sense and this is very much what I think people will do.’
The PM also suggested people would have celebrated Christmas even if the rules had not allowed them to and argued the country’s leaders had struck a ‘sensible balance’.
He said: ‘It is an incredibly difficult decision. You’ve got to strike a balance between people’s strong desire to celebrate a family holiday, perhaps one of the most important family holidays of the year – which they frankly are going to do anyway – and the need to keep the virus under control.’
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance suggested that one in 85 people in the country have coronavirus at the moment, numbers which he says are ‘very high’.
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