The prime minister is considering new national lockdown sanctions, which could be imposed in England early next week.
Whitehall sources confirmed that Boris Johnson met on Friday to discuss possible tightening of sanctions in light of a meeting with his senior cabinet colleagues. Coronavirus Infection rate and hospitalization data.
Chancellor Ishii Sunak, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, and Lancaster Duchess Chancellor Michael Gove were all present at the discussion on what action could be taken.
The potential shift in approach comes a week after Downing Street insisted the bifurcated regional structure would remain in place, nonetheless A “fire breaker” lockdown is being imposed in Wales And both France and Germany are shifting from regional to national restrictions in light of the growing case.
Before, Foreign Secretary Dominic RAB “We are confident that we have taken appropriate action – which should not reach the blanket,” he said.
No. 10 still could not respond to reports that the prime minister could hold a press conference on Monday, or that more restrictions are imminent.
A senior government source told the Times that no final decision had been made, but added: “The information is really bad.
“We are watching COVID-19 Rising across the country and hospitals fighting to fight. Our position has changed. “
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary for Labor, said:
“Boris Johnson should have used the school for half-term limited circuit breaks to prevent infectious stress, fix tests and traces, and save lives.
“Emergency Boris Johnson outlines the steps he will take to bring the virus under control and now promise to take the (reproductive) number quickly below 1.”
On Friday, newly released documents from the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modeling (SPI-MO) revealed that England had broken the “reasonable worst case scenario” for covid-19 infections and hospitalizations.
Scientists further warned that the number of coronavirus deaths per day in England is consistent with that scenario, but that “it is almost certain to be exceeded in the next two weeks”.
On Friday, 24,405 new positive cases were confirmed and another 2,274 viral deaths were reported.
The number in England has dropped slightly, from a high of 1.4 to a high of 1.3 – but that means the epidemic is still growing rapidly, the new government has warned.