Matt Hancock suggests Tier 4 could stay until vaccine ‘rolled out’

As 16.4 million people wake up to the first day of Tier 4 restrictions, many are asking for how long the draconian measures will be in place. While the restrictions will be reviewed at the end of the month, the Health Secretary said they could be in place for much longer than a few weeks. Speaking on Sky News, Hancock suggested areas could have to remain under Tier 4 until the vaccine has been rolled out. 

Asked whether people in Tier 4 should expect to remain in Tier 4 until a vaccine is rolled out, he told Sophy Ridge:

‘Well we’ve really got to get this under control. And the cases in the Tier 4 areas, as you’ve seen from the graphs that have been presented, have absolutely rocketed in the last few days, the last two weeks or so. And so we’ve got a long way to go to sort this. Essentially, we’ve got to get that vaccine rolled out to keep people safe… I think that given how much faster this new variant spreads, it is going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out.’