Boris Johnson last took to a Downing Street press briefing last week as he updated the nation about a Covid variant found in Brazil. The new, mutated virus variant has swept through the South American country and there are fears it has reached the UK. Mr Johnson also announced he will be ending the travel corridor allowances in an effort to slow the spread of the virus from countries outside the UK.
Mr Johnson said the UK is still in a “pretty precarious” position as he warned the lockdown ending would be a gradual easing rather than an overnight reopening.
The Prime Minister said loosening England’s stay at home order will be made based on progress in the vaccination rollout.
He said this had been “very encouraging” despite concerns that some parts of the nation are falling behind.
On a recent visit to the manufacturing facility for the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine, he said: “I understand completely that people want to get back to normal as fast as we possibly can.
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“But it depends on things going well.
“It depends on the vaccination programme going well, it depends on there being no new variants that throw our plans out and we have to mitigate against, and it depends on everybody, all of us, remembering that we’re not out of the woods yet.”
Mr Johnson said mid-February would be the time MPs will assess the lockdown situation.
He added: “It’s only really then that we can talk about the way ahead and what steps we can take to relax.
When is the next Covid update?
The next Government briefing has not yet been announced, but we can likely expect at least two more this week.
When it does take place, you’ll be able to watch live from Downing Street on BBC One and Sky News.
If you’re unable to get to a TV in time, you can catch the briefing online on BBC iPlayer and via Sky’s YouTube channel.
There were three press conferences last week, with Mr Hancock taking the reins on Monday, Home Secretary Priti Patel delivering Tuesday’s briefing and the Prime Minister appearing on Friday.
