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Boris Johnson has raised the possibility of a New Year’s closure if the British relax in the fight against the coronavirus, as his chief doctor warned people not to hug older relatives at Christmas.
England is due to come out of its second national lockdown next Wednesday and the Prime Minister, at a press conference in Downing Street, said his goal now was to avoid “taking our foot off the neck of the beast.”
“If we relax now, we risk losing control of this virus again, setting aside our hard-earned gains and forcing us to return to a national New Years lockdown with all the damage that would mean,” he said.
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“How are you going to taste 40% of England?”
Johnson said the “tough measures” in his new three-level system of localized restrictions would be the “best way to avoid this result”.
Some restrictions will be further relaxed over a five-day period during Christmas.
But England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, urged people to avoid physical contact with grandparents or other elderly relatives.
He said, “Would you encourage someone to hug and kiss their elderly relatives? No, you wouldn’t.
“It is not against the law, and that is the main point, you can do it within the rules that exist, but it does not make sense because you could be a carrier of the virus.
“And if you have an elderly relative, that would not be what you would like to do in a period where we are reaching a point where we could actually protect older people.”
The prime minister suggested that he is allowing more relaxed measures between December 23 and 27 because, anyway, people could have ignored stricter rules.
“It is an incredibly difficult decision,” he said.
“You have to find a balance between people’s strong desire to celebrate a family vacation, perhaps one of the most important family vacations of the year, which they are frankly going to do anyway, and the need to keep the virus under control.”
Under England’s new system of localized restrictions, 99% of the country’s population will enter the two most difficult levels.
But Johnson told the public: “Your level is not your destination, each area has the means of escape.”
The prime minister noted that the massive tests would offer a route out of the higher Tier 3, as he praised a recent pilot scheme in Liverpool, which will move to Tier 2 starting next Wednesday.
It means that the city is one of only two places in England that experienced reduced restrictions as of December 2, moving from Level 3 of the system that preceded the national shutdown.
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When asked whether the entire British Army would have to be deployed to mass test the 40% of England’s population at Level 3, Johnson replied: “We will give the aid and support of the armed forces, the army, where necessary.
“But it will also take local leadership and local communities to come together to do these lateral flow tests.
“Parts of the country and various cities are already coming forward saying they want to do what Liverpool has already done.
“But it depends a lot on the communities coming together, on the local leaders saying they want to do it. Because it’s not something we want to impose. You can’t force people to take an exam.
“People must understand that this is the way forward, both for themselves and for their communities.”
Professor Whitty said that he hoped, if a COVID-19 the vaccine is approved, which parts of the country could descend through the tiered system of restrictions.
However, he admitted that, at the moment, the Tier 1 restrictions were not expected to be strong enough to prevent an increase in infections.
There are around 14,000 soldiers on standby ready to help deliver the government coronavirus plans for this winter, including specialist planners, doctors and logistics experts.
A government spokesperson said: “Starting next week, local authorities falling to Level 3 will be able to request the support of the NHS Test and Trace and the Armed Forces to deliver a rapid six-week community testing program.
“This includes access to lateral flow testing and planning, logistics, financing and communications support.”
