BORIS Johnson has insisted four weeks of national lockdown in England should be enough to drive down the spread of coronavirus so the severe restrictions can be eased.
As the nation was plunged into a second shutdown yesterday, the Prime Minister recognised many were “anxious, weary and fed up” after a rebellion on the measures from Conservative MPs.
Johnson said he has “every confidence” the measures will work so the NHS will not be overwhelmed and the lockdown in England can be eased back into a tiered system on December 2.
The Prime Minister faced questions over whether he would be able to extend the national restrictions if necessary after 32 Tories defied the whip to vote against the measures. “The advice I have received suggests that four weeks is enough for these measures to make a real impact,” he told a Downing Street press conference.
“These rules will expire and on December 2 we plan to move back to a tiered approach. There is light at the end of the tunnel.
“These are difficult times. While it pains me to have to ask once again for so many to give up so much, I know we can get through this.”
He said “the objective” is to return to regional curbs next moth so “people across this country will be able to have as normal a Christmas as possible”.
Johnson was questioned whether he would be able to rely on his own MPs for subsequent measures or if he would have to rely on Labour votes after a further 18 Tories, including former prime minister Theresa May, did not vote in a Commons vote to pass the lockdown regulations.
“I’m very, very grateful to MPs for voting through the measures that we did yesterday and I believe that I’m right in saying that the Government was able to do it with its own votes, but obviously it was good that this was a measure that was supported by people across all political parties, and that’s the right way forward in this country,” Johnson said.
Pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops have closed their doors and people have been told to stay at home for the next four weeks but schools, universities and nurseries are remaining open.
By Johnson’s side, NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens assured sceptics that the second wave of the pandemic “is real and serious”.
“The health service has been working incredibly hard to prepare and to catch up on the care that was disrupted during the first wave,” he added.
Sir Simon said around 30,000 staff in the health service were either off with coronavirus or having to self-isolate, and “that has an impact”.
Johnson continued to express optimism that science would succeed in finding a way out of the crisis.
“The number of shots that are currently raining down on the goal is very, very considerable from the scientists and the doctors, and one of them, I believe, is going to get to get through, and get through very soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, governments should consider incentivising people to get a Covid-19 vaccine in order to achieve the required level of herd immunity, an expert has said.
The incentive could be either financial or payment in kind, such as being allowed to not wear a face mask in public, the University of Oxford ethicist suggests.
Given the rising global death toll, there have been calls to mandate Covid-19 vaccination, if and when a jab is approved, according to Professor Julian Savulescu at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.
Writing an opinion piece in the Journal of Medical Ethics he argues that though vaccination should be voluntary generally, there is a strong case for making any vaccination mandatory if four conditions are met. These consist of: when there is a grave threat to public health, the vaccine is safe and effective, the pros outweigh the cons of any suitable alternative and the level of coercion is proportionate.
Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics, University of Bristol, said: “The proposal to make immunisation mandatory and the approach preferred by the author to offer financial incentivisation to people to accept the vaccines runs counter to the normal approach taken in the UK which is to offer vaccines free on the NHS and for people to take them voluntarily.”
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