Coronavirus: Boris Johnson says UK ‘now seeing a second wave coming in’
Boris Johnson has confirmed that national lockdown measures may be needed to deal with an “inevitable” second wave of coronavirus, as new figures showed infections could be doubling in the UK as fast as every seven days, The Independent reports.
New restrictions come into force on Tuesday across large areas of north-west England, the Midlands and West Yorkshire, bringing the total under some form of local lockdown to around 13.5 million people - more than one in five of the UK’s population.
Speaking during a visit to Oxford, the prime minister made clear national action was not being ruled out, though he said he did not want “the kind of lockdown we had in March and April” and wanted to keep schools and the economy open “as far as we possibly can”.
Mr Johnson said: “There’s no question that we are now seeing a second wave coming in. We’ve seen in France and Spain, across Europe. It’s been, I’m afraid, absolutely inevitable that we would see it in this country.”
He added: “We want to keep the schools open - that's going to happen. I will try and keep all parts of the economy open, as far as we possibly can.
“I don’t think anybody wants to go into a second lockdown but clearly, when you look at what is happening, you've got to wonder whether we need to go further than the ‘rule of six’ that we brought in on Monday.”
Mr Johnson said ministers will be considering “intensifying” local lockdowns already in place in areas from Greater Manchester to Birmingham, Leicester and the North-East, but also “looking at other measures as well”. He promised to keep people informed of the science behind any regional or national measures “if or when” they are introduced.
The PM was coming under intense pressure to call an urgent meeting of the government’s Cobra emergencies committee this weekend, with leaders of devolved administrations demanding to be invited. Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said that “hard but necessary” decisions must be taken in the next few days if a second national lockdown is to be avoided.
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