At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday this week, Sir Keir said since the SAGE advice was given on September 21 and “the infection rate has quadrupled, hospital admissions have gone from 275 a day to 628 a day in England, yesterday 441 covid patients were on ventilators and the number of deaths recorded was – tragically – the highest since June 10”.
He added: “That’s the cost of rejecting the advice.”
Mr Johnson defended his lockdown strategy, stating: “The whole point is to seize this moment now to avoid the misery of another national lockdown – into which he wants to go headlong – by delivering a regional solution.”
The idea of a circuit breaker lockdown is gaining popularity elsewhere in the UK, with Northern Ireland due to introduce a four-week lockdown later this month.
