The Prime Minister has warned that another lockdown isn't out of the question if a new and deadly variant of coronavirus appears.
It comes after the emergence of the new Omicron XE variant which has caused nearly 1,000 infections in the UK so far. According to the Office for National Statistics, 4.9 million people in the UK were infected with Covid-19 as of last weekend, reaching record-high levels during the pandemic.
According to a report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), XE is a combination of the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains and was first detected in the UK on January 19 with early tests suggesting it's highly transmissible. The UK Health Security Agency added on Monday that the most recent data showed the new variant had a growth rate of 9.8 per cent above BA.2.
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Now, the Prime Minister has suggested that the country could still go into lockdown, despite implementing a new 'Living With Covid' plan. He told conservative MPs Esther McVey and Philip Davies for GB News: "I want to avoid any such thing ever happening again." Despite this, he acknowledged that any decision to bring back restrictions must find a position between public health and saving lives.
“I think it would be irresponsible of any leader in any democracy to say that they’re going to rule out something that can save lives.
What do you make of his comments? Have your say in our comments below.
“I believe the things we did saved lives. I’ve got to be absolutely frank with you, there could be a new variant more deadly, there could be a variant that affects children, that we really need to contain, I’m not going to take any options off the table. But I don’t think it will happen.
“We’re now in the phase where the virus is losing its potency overall and we’ve got a massively vaccinated UK population.”
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