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LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering imposing a new one-month national lockdown on England next week after scientists said the coronavirus was spreading faster than their worst predictions, a government official said.
The pandemic is spreading across most of Britain, where the official death toll of 46,299 is the highest in Europe.
The new measures are still under discussion and a final decision has not been made, the official said. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own policies to combat the pandemic.
Johnson is expected to hold a press conference on Monday (Nov. 2) to announce the new measures, which would allow only essential stores and schools, daycare centers and universities to remain open, The Times newspaper said.
The prime minister’s office declined to comment.
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The decision to impose a national blockade would represent a drastic change in policy for the prime minister, who has insisted for months that he did not believe such a measure was necessary.
Johnson said two weeks ago that he wanted to avoid the “misery of a national blockade” while defending his strategy of imposing a patchwork of local restrictions.
But government scientific advisers warn that COVID-19 infections are increasing so fast that unless something can be done to reduce infections, the “reasonable worst case” scenario of 80,000 deaths could be overcome.
Currently, the government has a three-tier system of restrictions for local areas in England, with Tier 3 being the highest.
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A member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) said Saturday that the virus was “running rampant” in all age groups.
“For naysayers who don’t believe in a second wave, there is a second wave,” Calum Semple, a professor of sprout medicine at the University of Liverpool, told the BBC.
“And unlike the first wave, in which we had a national blockade that protected large sectors of society, this outbreak is now unleashing in all age groups.”
Any move to impose another national lockdown will likely face opposition from conservative lawmakers who are concerned about the economic, social and health costs of the biggest restriction on freedoms since World War II.
John Redwood, a member of parliament and former cabinet minister, said he is “full of hunches” about the possible new restrictions and hopes lawmakers can vote on the measures.
A new lockdown would put more pressure on Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and the Bank of England to increase their already huge support for the UK economy, the sixth largest in the world. The economy slumped a record 20% in the spring and has been struggling to maintain its recovery.
In the current system, Level 3 includes a ban on mixing people in different households, pubs and bars are closed, wedding receptions are not allowed, and travel to or from the area should be avoided.
Some analysts have said that regional restrictions on companies imposed in recent weeks will cause the economy to contract again in the fourth quarter and a national lockdown would cause further damage.
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