The Mayor of London has insisted a two-week national lockdown is the best way of stopping the rapid spread of coronavirus across the UK. Sadiq Khan explained a two-week lockdown will offset the health and economic consequences which could be sparked from Boris Johnson’s three-tier system. The Prime Minister announced the nationwide system which plunges regions into stricter measures dependent on the amount of COIVD-19 cases.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Khan said: “SAGE is saying, the Government-appointed experts, the most effective way to slow down the spread of the virus and to get a grip of it is a short two-week circuit breaker across the country.
“Doing that not simply stops the spread of the virus but avoids months and months of restrictions in tier one, two or three.
“At the moment we know businesses are being hammered because of COVID-19 consequences without proper financial support.
“Can you imagine it in five months time with these restrictions?”
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“I know it sounds tough, having two to three weeks off on a really strict regime.
“But that regime will avoid months and months of us dealing with the health and economic consequences.”
Mr Khan recently said that it is inevitable the capital will pass a “trigger point” to enter the higher Tier 2 coronavirus restrictions in the “next few days”.
The move would see nearly the nine million people living in the capital banned from mixing with other households indoors, including in pubs and restaurants.
The city is expected to be initially placed on “medium” in Mr Johnson’s new three-tier system of local alerts for England when they come into force on Wednesday.
This would put London with most of the nation at the lowest end of the scale, meaning no new restrictions would be imposed immediately and the rule of six and the 10pm curfew staying in place.
But Mr Khan said on Tuesday that the entirety of the city will have to move up to “high” within the coming days.
He told Sky News: “Across our city the average over the last seven days is about 90 per 100,000. All the indicators I have, hospital admissions, ICU occupancy, the numbers of older people with cases, the prevalence of the disease, the positivity are all going the wrong direction.
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“Which means, I’m afraid, it’s inevitable over the course of the next few days London will have passed a trigger point to be in the second tier.”
The mayor insisted London should move as a whole into higher restrictions despite variable rates across the capital.
He said: “We’re keen to go as one as we can see the complexities and the confusion caused by some boroughs having additional restrictions and other boroughs having less.
“Many Londoners work in one borough, live in another borough, study in another borough, go to a restaurant in another borough, so we’re really keen to go as one city.”
