The Government will decide next week whether to effectively extend England’s lockdown after a top adviser warned that a tougher tier system would be needed to curb the surge in coronavirus infections.
Public Health England’s medical director Susan Hopkins said ministers would have to look at “strengthening” the three-tiered approach before the national shutdown ends on December 2. This could mean an indoor ban on socialising over winter.
Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said this morning that lockdown would end on the proposed date, but that it was too early to say which tiers particular areas moved into, with the system under review. Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted it was “too early” to know whether the Covid-19 r rate would be low enough to ease curbs.
In more positive developments, the UK has secured five million doses of a “tremendously exciting” new vaccine which was found to be almost 95 per cent effective, and a study has found that mouthwash can eradicate the disease within 30 seconds of exposure in a laboratory.
