Politics

UK 'nowhere near' ending lockdown says Sadiq Khan – with peak still 10 days away


The UK is “nowhere near” coming out of coronavirus lockdown and the peak of the illness is still a week and a half away, Sadiq Khan claimed today.

London’s mayor said the capital is still seeing “too many people losing their lives” and must brace for drastic restrictions to last much longer.

Boris Johnson originally said the ban on leaving home without good reason would be reviewed after three weeks – which expire at the end of the Easter weekend.

But the government has now made clear it will last for longer – and health minister Edward Argar today admitted “I don’t know” when it will end.

The key factor to decide when the lockdown is listed will be when new cases each day “peak” and start to fall.

A police officer speaks to members of the public in London’s Greenwich Park

Reports had suggested government officials were looking at Easter Sunday as the possible date of the peak.

But that is now just four days away.

While there are early signs of infections slowing down, scientists say they won’t know for certain for a week or more.

London mayor Sadiq Khan told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think we’re nowhere near lifting the lockdown.

“I speak to experts regularly, in fact after this I’ll have another call with Public Health England and NHS London experts.

“We think the peak which is the worst part of the virus is still probably a week and half away.”

Sadiq Khan said: “We think the peak which is the worst part of the virus is still probably a week and half away”

Health minister Edward Argar said there was now a “tiny hint” that infections were “slowing down”.

But he does not know when the Government’s lockdown restrictions will be lifted, adding “we’re not there yet”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Mr Argar said: “We need to start seeing the numbers coming down and that’s when you’re in the negative.

“That’s when you have a sense when that’s sustained over a period of time, that you can see it coming out of that.

“We’re not there yet and I don’t exactly know when we will be.”

The law says the lockdown can roll on indefinitely if ministers choose to.

It does not legally have to be reviewed after three weeks – and could in fact carry on for months with no change to the current law.

The emergency powers ban people from going outside without a list of good reasons, including shopping for essentials, doing essential work, a medical need or once a day for exercise.

The law also bans gatherings of more than two people in public, unless they’re from the same household.

Offenders can be fined £30 to start with by police, rising to almost £1,000 by the time it is a third offence.

Ministers have not ruled out a “phased” return to normality where different sectors or parts of the country could come out of lockdown earlier than others.

While there are early signs of infections slowing down, scientists won’t know for certain for a week or more

This could reportedly include reopening schools.

But according to the Times, No10 aides fear the public will not accept a bit-by-bit approach because it will mean one rule for some people and another rule for others.

The government’s chief scientific officer Sir Patrick last night said the number of new cases “could be moving in the right direction” – but it would not be clear “for a week or so”.

He told the daily Downing Street press conference: “It’s possible that we’re beginning to see the beginning of change in terms of the curve flattening a little bit.

“We won’t know that for sure for a week or so.

“There hasn’t been the accelerated take-off and again it’s possible that we’re beginning to see the start of a change where we might see numbers flattening off.”

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Boris Johnson in intensive care

London mayor Mr Khan pleaded for more clarity about exactly which workers should still be going to work to reduce the number.

He also called for people not to “sunbathe, have BBQs at the park or play team sports” – saying people must exercise to ward off “cabin fever” but little more.

He added: “Although we lost more than 780 lives across the country, in London we lost 224 lives yesterday.

“So we’re still I’m afraid on a daily basis seeing too many people losing their lives.

“At the moment, thankfully, we’ve got some spare capacity in intensive care units in London. but we can’t be complacent at all.”





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