This morning the Prime Minister said there was “no question” stricter rules will be introduced “in due course” to help suppress new cases of the virus. Boris Johnson held a meeting of his “Covid-O” committee this morning to look at the latest data and consider what steps are needed to cut infections.
Yesterday the UK recorded 54,990 new coronavirus cases, the sixth day in a row more than 50,000 have been registered.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman refused to rule out introducing a curfew to bring down the numbers when asked about the draconian measure this afternoon and warned everything would be kept under consideration.
He said: “We’ve always said we’ll keep all measures under review and base our decisions on the latest scientific evidence.”
He added: “We’ll do whatever is needed to tackle the virus and we do that looking at the latest data.
“We are looking at the measures we need to introduce and will announce any changes in due course.”
The spokesman added he would not comment on “speculation” of individual measures but that the Prime minister would do what was necessary to “protect the NHS and save lives”.
Mr Johnson admitted today that the virus was out of control in England and the Government would have to act.
While visiting a hospital to see the rollout of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, he warned of “tough, tough” weeks to come.
He said: “If you look at the numbers, there’s no question that we’re going to have to take tougher measures and we’ll be announcing those in due course.
“We’ve got the virus really surging.”
The Prime Minister is under mounting pressure to announce new restrictions immediately due to the rapid spread of the virus.
But Express.co.uk understands there are currently no plans for the Prime Minister to hold a televised press briefing later today or for MPs to be recalled from their Christmas recess before their expected return next Monday.
More to follow…
