LONDON: Britain intends to seek a “cautious but irreversible” ending of strict coronavirus restrictions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday as his government introduced hotel quarantine stays for arrivals from “high risk” nations.
Britain, with more than 117,000 deaths from Covid-19, is one of the worst-hit countries in the world by the pandemic. Johnson has come under criticism for acting too quickly to relax measures and too slowly to re-impose them in recent months.
But lockdown-sceptical MPs are pressing for an accelerated exit after Britain over the weekend surpassed its target to vaccinate 15 million of the most vulnerable people with a first vaccine jab.
Speaking at a health clinic in southeast London, Johnson said the government needed to be “very prudent” as it reviewed a third stay-at-home order in England that has shut down schools, non-essential businesses and hospitality venues since early January.
“What we wanted to see is progress that is cautious but irreversible, and I think that’s what the public and people up and down the country will want to see,” Johnson said.
The government is due to set out a roadmap to relax the measures in England on February 22, and has indicated schools could reopen on March 8.
However, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there is “some way to go” before lockdown can be eased, stressing the government was awaiting key data on how successfully the vaccines reduce transmission.
But over the weekend, more than 60 MPs from the ruling Conservatives signed a letter calling for Johnson to commit to a firm timetable ending with the lifting of all legal controls by the end of April. Once enough people are inoculated, “it’s time for us to take a bold stride into life and start to recover our society and our humanity”, lawmaker Steve Baker told Talkradio on Monday. — AFP
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