Boris Johnson is considering implementing even stricter lockdown measures in the North of England, given that Covid cases are continuing to rise. It is rumoured that hospitality venues and non-essential shops may be obliged to shut in the areas most affected even though schools and workplaces would remain open.
Boris Johnson ponders tougher Northern lockdown
Local leaders in Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Leeds have given their verdict on the proposal and have come out to declare that they won’t support further “economic lockdowns” and want greater devolved powers to combat the spread. They requested extra powers to punish those who break the rules, add new local restrictions, hire health experts and manage a local test and trace system.
Boris Johnson, in his address for the virtual Conservative Party conference yesterday stated that Britain had to tolerate draconian measures because there was “simply no reasonable alternative”. He has reportedly put the brakes on Health Secretary Matt Hancock‘s three-tier lockdown system following a Cabinet row and scientific briefing.
Professor John Edmunds, who is advising the Government’s Covid response, said the following in an appearance on BBC Newsnight : “These local restrictions that have been put in place in much of the North of England really haven’t been very effective, we need to take much more stringent measures, not just in the North of England, we need to do it countrywide, and bring the epidemic back under control. We will at some point put very stringent measures in place because we will have to when hospitals start to really fill up. Frankly, the better strategy is to put them in place now.”
The latest daily figures show 14,542 new confirmed cases in the UK meaning that cases have trebled in a fortnight. Approximately 58,000 Brits have already died from Covid so far.