Lockdown: David Davis suggests restrictions will end 'in April'
David Davis criticised the UK Government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis during an interview with talkRADIO. The former Brexit Secretary warned of the damage that extending the lockdown into the early summer will do to the UK economy.
Mr Davis said: “I think this will not be forever but the problem here is it is going to be for the best part of another winter.
“It was mid-February with the Prime Minister, it is now March with Michael Gove.
“I suspect it will be at the end of March or April before we get out of this.
“It could be when the next summer starts and that is the problem, it will do huge damage.”
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Mr Davis’s forecast comes as Michael Gove admitted the UK could be in lockdown until March on Tuesday morning.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Gove said: “It takes some time after the vaccination for people to get full immunity.
“We will keep these constantly under review but we can’t predict with certainty that we will be able to lift restrictions on the week commencing February 15.
“What we will be doing is everything we can to make sure that as many people as possible are vaccinated so we can begin progressively to lift restrictions.
Michael Gove fails to confirm when UK lockdown will end
“I think it’s right to say as we enter March we should be able to lift some of these restrictions but not necessarily all.”
On Monday evening, Boris Johnson announced the UK would go into a national lockdown for at least six weeks.
Mr Johnson stated that people in the top-four priority groups would receive a first vaccine dose by mid-February “if things go well and with a fair wind in our sails”.
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It is thought that measures are unlikely to be relaxed until around 13 million people aged over 70 or classed as extremely clinically vulnerable have received the vaccine and been given enough time to be protected.
During his press conference on Monday, the Prime Minister outlined the current severity of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from Covid than at any time since the start of the pandemic.
“The weeks ahead will be the hardest yet but I really do believe that we’re entering the last phase of the struggle, because with every jab that goes into our arms we’re tilting the odds against Covid and in favour of the British people.”
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