Coronavirus lockdown: PM warns UK faces 'medical disaster' without action
- Published
The UK faces a "medical and moral disaster" unless tough action is taken now to stop the spread of coronavirus, the prime minister has warned.
Boris Johnson told MPs there was "no alternative" but to introduce a national lockdown in England - which is due to come into force on Thursday.
He outlined the planned measures ahead of a Commons vote on Wednesday.
Labour's leader accused the PM of a "catastrophic failure of leadership" over No 10's handling of the pandemic.
Sir Keir Starmer criticised the government's "inaction" and said it meant "the lockdown will be harder, longer and more damaging than it needed to be".
The Labour leader previously called for a short lockdown or circuit-breaker in England back in October.
He confirmed his party would support the government in Wednesday's vote, but called for the four-week period to be used to "fix the broken track and trace system and give control to local authorities".
On Saturday, the prime minister announced pubs, restaurants, gyms, non-essential shops and places of worship would be closed.
Outlining the measures and further support for businesses and jobs, Mr Johnson told MPs that as well as extending the furlough scheme, the government will double its support from 40% to 80% of trading profits for the self-employed from next month.
In his Commons statement, Mr Johnson said there was "no alternative" but to introduce national restrictions in light of the latest coronavirus data.
He said: "Faced with these latest figures, there is no alternative but to take further action at a national level."
On Monday, the UK recorded 18,950 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 136 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
The prime minister insisted it was "right to try every possible option" before imposing a nationwide lockdown, and rejected criticism that the UK had been slower to act than other countries in Europe.
What are the new restrictions in England?
- People will be told to stay at home except for specific reasons
- These include work which cannot be done from home, childcare or education, exercise outdoors, medical reasons, essential shopping, providing care for vulnerable people or for volunteering, and visiting members of your support bubble
- Meeting indoors or in private gardens will not be allowed, but individuals can meet one other person from another household outside in a public place. Children under school age and those dependent on round-the-clock care who are with their parents do not count towards the two-person limit
- Non-essential retail will close, but can remain open for click-and-collect delivery
- Pubs, bars, restaurants will have to close, but can still provide takeaway and delivery, excluding takeaway of alcohol
- Indoor and outdoor leisure facilities, such as gyms and swimming pools, will also close, along with entertainment venues and personal care facilities such as beauty salons
- Places of worship will close, unless they are being used for funerals, to broadcast acts of worship, individual prayer, formal childcare, or essential services such as blood donation or food banks
- Construction sites and manufacturing workplaces can remain open
- Weddings and civil partnership ceremonies will not be able to take place except in exceptional circumstances, and funerals will be limited to a maximum of 30 people
- Children will still be able to move between homes if their parents are separated
- Clinically vulnerable people will be asked to be "especially careful" but people will not be asked to resume shielding
- Overnight stays, staying in a second home, and holidays will not be allowed - including in the UK and abroad - although there are exceptions, such as work trips
- People will be told to avoid all non-essential travel by private or public transport
Mr Johnson warned of the "medical and moral disaster" the nation faces if the NHS was allowed to be "overwhelmed".
He said: "Doctors and nurses could be forced to choose which patients to treat, who would live and who would die", posing what he called an "existential threat" to the health service.
"If we fail to get coronavirus under control, it is the sheer weight of demand from Covid patients that would deprive others of the care they need.
"Cancer treatment, heart surgery, other life-saving procedures, all this could be put at risk if we do not get the virus under control."
Mr Johnson faces a rebellion from several senior Tory MPs, including Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, when they vote on the measures on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson says the planned restrictions will end on 2 December and MPs will be given a vote on what should replace the new lockdown regulations when they expire at 00:01 GMT on 2 December.
On Sunday, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said the lockdown could be extended if it took longer to bring the transmission rate of the virus down.
The PM said he was optimistic that technological advances would help "defeat this virus by the spring".
He said the government was planning a "steady but massive expansion in the deployment of quick, turnaround tests" with the Army poised to help roll them out.
Mr Johnson hailed advances in medicine including "virtually instant" Covid-19 tests and said there is a "real prospect" of a vaccine in the first quarter of next year.
He adds: "I believe that these technical developments taken together will enable us to defeat the virus by the spring as humanity has defeated every other infectious disease and I am not alone is this optimism."
Responding to the PM's statement, Sir Keir said Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak had "failed to learn" lessons from the first wave of the pandemic.
He told MPs: "The central lesson from the first wave of this virus was that if you don't act early and decisively the cost will be far worse, more people will lose their jobs, more businesses will be forced to close and tragically more people will lose their loved ones.
He added that Sage - the government's committee of scientific advisers - recommended an urgent two to three-week circuit break on 21 September.
"For 40 days the prime minister ignored that advice," he says, and the resulting lockdown was "longer and deeper".
"At every stage the prime minister has been too slow, behind the curve.
"At every stage he's pushed away challenge, ignored advice and put what he hoped would happen ahead of what is happening."
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Elsewhere in the UK, Scotland's five-level system of Covid restrictions has now come into force.
In Wales, First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced that two households in Wales will be able to form a bubble and meet at home after the 17-day firebreak ends on 9 November.
Schools in Northern Ireland have reopened after an extended half-term break, while other restrictions including the closure of pubs, bars and restaurants continue until 13 November.
In other key developments:
- The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have together returned to Windsor Castle - where they have a reduced household staff, nicknamed HMS Bubble - ahead of England's second national lockdown. The 94-year-old monarch had spent the weekend visiting the 99-year-old duke in Norfolk
- Leaders from the UK's four nations have said they will "work together" on a "joint approach to the Christmas period" following a meeting of the Westminster government's emergency Cobra committee
- Remembrance Sunday events in England can go ahead despite the lockdown, Downing Street has said. The prime minister's official spokesman said guidance would be given to councils, adding that events should be held outside with social distancing
- All 40 FA Cup round one ties, including those involving non-elite teams, will be played as planned from 6-9 November. But golf courses, driving ranges and tennis courts in England have been told to close until at least 3 December
- A Winter Defence Force of 7,500 military personnel has been put on standby to help the government and councils deal with the second wave of Covid-19, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has told MPs. He said the Ministry of Defence was currently looking at a number of "significant asks" from local authorities
- Travel firm TUI has said it will not operate its flights and holidays departing from England and Wales from Thursday up to and including 2 December
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2020-11-02 18:06:00Z
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