“Be a little bit wiser baby, put it on, put it on,” advised the Spice Girls in their 1996 hit 2 Become 1. The Health Secretary channelled those sentiments in his interview with our political editor today.
Sajid Javid has called on Londoners to wears face masks on the Tube, as official figures confirm a drop in the wearing of covering on the Underground. He rightly notes that it is “common sense”.
Because the pandemic is not over. New data reveals that Britain’s Covid infection rate is the highest in western Europe by some distance, and one of the highest in the world.
Our average daily reported cases of 52 per 100,000 on Thursday places us 12th in the world, above not only the US and Canada but former global hotspots such as India and Brazil.
Mayor Sadiq Khan has called on the government to make mask-wearing on the Tube a legal requirement — at present, it is merely a TfL condition of travel.
Perhaps the Health Secretary could have a word with his Cabinet colleagues, to put in place the regulations necessary to protect all Londoners, and keep our city moving.
