By No guarantees over Christmas lockdown, says Dominic Raab
Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has said the government “can’t make hard, fast guarantees” that there will not be a Christmas lockdown.
When asked whether England can expect restrictions over Christmas, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m not going to trail things when decisions haven’t been made.”
This comes as the Omicron variant continues to spread quickly across the country.
Ministers are set to meet for a virtual cabinet meeting at 14:00 today to consider different options of possible Covid measures.
Tighter restrictions are expected to be brought in before the new year, however, a number of papers have reported that they could be bought in before Christmas.
According to a report by the BBC, civil servants have produced three options for future Covid measures, ranging in severity from low to medium and high.
But ministers have yet to make a choice, with Dominic Raab refusing to make any guarantees.
He continued:”The acceleration of the booster makes that much less likely.
“But ultimately, in answer to your question, it depends on the severity of the Omicron cases and you know that there’s a time lag between reported cases, hospitalisations and the deaths.”
He added: “we are very mindful” of all the sectors “suffering” due to the Omicron surge.
This comes after Sage minutes said that without further government intervention hospital admissions could soar beyond 3,000 a day.
The minutes say: “If the aim is to reduce the levels of infection in the population and prevent hospitalisations reaching these levels, more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon.”
“The timing of such measures is crucial,” continue the Sage minutes.
“Delaying until 2022 would greatly reduce the effectiveness of such interventions and make it less likely that these would prevent considerable pressure on health and care settings.”
Do you think the government would be successful in implementing another Christmas lockdown in the wake of the Downing Street Christmas party scandal? Share your views in the comments section.
