Boris Johnson is considering six months of coronavirus restrictions after he warned it was ‘inevitable’ a second wave would hit the UK.
The Prime Minister said it was ‘inevitable’ that a second wave would hit the UK in the coming weeks and months.
Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull have already been hit with new lockdown restrictions and yesterday it was announced Wolverhampton would face similar measures from Tuesday.
He is now looking at six months of ‘on-off’ nationwide restrictions amid concerns that the public is flouting rules on social gatherings, writes Mail Online.
The new approach to get the country through winter would see it alternate periods of stricter measures with intervals of relaxation.
Fortnight-long ‘circuit breakers’ would see tough restrictions introduced temporarily across the whole country to suppress the virus, before they would be lifted for a time and then re-introduced if necessary.
Measures could include bans on social contact between households, shutting down hospitality and leisure venues such as bars and restaurants, or restricting their opening hours.
Downing Street was spooked by warnings from the Government’s Joint Biosecurity Centre that the UK is now six weeks behind Spain, which recorded 239 deaths on Thursday.
But the move to sink Britain back into lockdown one region at a time has led to protests from the Treasury, as allies of Chancellor Rishi Sunak argue that a two-week ‘circuit breaker’ would be ‘far better’ than being forced into a full lockdown by October.
Meanwhile, SAGE adviser Professor Graham Medley has argued for a half-term shutdown of leisure and hospitality, claiming that ‘short, planned periods of reducing R below one can greatly reduce the risk of longer, unplanned emergency lockdowns’.
