As the UK’s coronavirus alert level is upgraded from three to four, all focus is now on what new restrictions Boris Johnson will announce on Tuesday when he makes a statement to the Commons. Before he gets there, the Prime Minister must first meet with his cabinet and chair Cobra.
Monday’s briefing from Chief Scientific Officer Patrick Vallance and Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty saw a hint of the difficult decisions that lie ahead. The pair painted a grim picture of the direction that infections are going in — claiming that it could lead to 50,000 new coronavirus cases a day by mid-October without further action.
However, despite talk of a so-called ‘circuit break’ to turn the tide — which would see a form of partial lockdown for two weeks – nothing quite so drastic is expected on Tuesday. Boris Johnson spent Monday afternoon in his parliamentary office holding meetings. Lockdown sceptic Tory MPs appear more relaxed than they were when the week started. Several now believe that No. 10 is working to make sure the public can do ’80 per cent of what they can do now’ rather than push everyone closer to the severe restrictions seen in spring. A 10 p.m. closing time for pubs is expected to be announced along with other potential measures on socialising.
More measures could still follow Tuesday’s announcement. As things stand, the rationale in Downing Street is that government data suggests a significant number of people have not been following the rules. While this tends to be higher in younger age groups, the data suggests that they’re not the only ones flouting the rules.
The hope is that a mix of new measures and tougher enforcement and penalties will see a change in behaviour. If that fails, more drastic options will likely be considered.
Now listen to today’s Coffee House Shots podcast with Cindy Yu, Katy Balls and James Forsyth on Boris’s new restrictions:
Comments