Boris Johnson urges Brits to pull together to avoid 2nd lockdown as he warns ‘your cough could be someone’s death knell’
BORIS Johnson tonight warned the nation "your cough could be someone else's death knell" as he begged the country to pull together to defeat the virus.
The PM urged Brits to show "discipline, resolve, and the spirit of togetherness" to get Britain through the "difficult"; winter months to come - or face a new national lockdown.
In a live TV address - only the third time he has spoken to the nation in a recorded broadcast during the pandemic - he reassured the public that there "are great days ahead" once the fight against covid is over.
And it was only by working together collectively would the current soaring rate of infections start to come down.
In a message of hope he said: "I am more certain than ever that this is a struggle that humanity will win, and we in this country will win."
However, for the first time he entertained the possibility of a "tougher" new national lockdown and what it would mean for the country, just weeks after he lifted restrictions.
Mr Johnson warned the nation that he would have no choice but to impose “significantly greater restrictions” later this year if the new measures fail to bring the ‘R’ value of the virus below 1.
The fight against covid is by no means over, he said.
He warned it would threaten the shutting down of schools once again - something he has said he never wants to do.
And it would see millions of older and vulnerable people face crippling loneliness once again.
The PM told the nation: "If we were forced into a new national lockdown, that would threaten not just jobs and livelihoods but the loving human contact on which we all depend.
"We must do all we can to avoid going down that road again.
"But if people don’t follow the rules we have set out, then we must reserve the right to go further."
Never before has the destiny of the nation relied so "completely on our individual behaviour", he said.
We risk "many more deaths" if we don't act now, he stressed.
But "if we follow these simple rules together, we will get through this winter together", he said.
He announced this afternoon new rules for England - but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will take similar steps. The plans include:
- A 10pm curfew for all pubs and hospitality venues will come in from Thursday - where doors will have to be closed
- And they will have to offer table service only - except for takeaway deliveries which can continue
- Tougher enforcement powers for shutting down venues which don't force people to stay apart
- The military could be called in by police to help enforce the new rules
- People should work from home if they can - or if their workplace isn't Covid-safe but MPs will stay in Parliament
- Weddings are going to be slashed back from 30 down to 15 - but funerals will stay on the same rules
- Facemasks will be made compulsory for staff in hospitality and close contact places - and taxis too
- Team sports will be curbed inside, banning five-aside footie and other games
- The return to live sport planned for October 1 now will not go ahead
- Businesses will have a legal requirement to enforce the rule of six
- The fines will DOUBLE for not wearing face masks to £200
- As announced at the weekend, there will be fines for Brits who defy orders to isolate
The nation is now "better prepared" with PPE, extra beds, the Nightingale hospitals and new medicines, all of which will help save lives, Boris stressed tonight.
But he added: "There are unquestionably difficult months to come."
By next year he hoped the "dream" of a vaccine and mass testing could mean a return to a more ordinary life.
Boris said: "That’s the hope; that’s the dream. It’s hard, but it’s attainable, and we are working as hard as we can to get there."
The PM also slapped down critics who want him to let the virus "rip" through society or to "lock up" the vulnerable saying it would eventually "find its way through to the elderly as well" and kill people nevertheless.
Nicola Sturgeon, Arlene Foster and Mark Drakeford gave national addresses to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales too.
His TV message to the people comes after an address in the House of Commons earlier today, where he told MPs that hospital admissions have more than doubled in the last fortnight - and Britain has reached a "perilous turning point" like in France and Spain that forced him to act.
And the PM gave warnings that "significantly greater restrictions" could be slapped on the country "if all our actions fail to bring the R below 1" in the coming weeks.
He stopped short of announcing a two-week circuit break of shutdowns to put a brake on the spread - but said the army could be brought in to help police.
The PM told the nation: "I am sorry this will affect businesses who have just got back up on their feet.
"But we must act to stop the virus being transmitted in restaurants and bars."
The Prime Minister said: "We should assume that the restrictions I have announced will remain in place for perhaps six months.
"For the time being, this virus is a fact of our lives and I must tell the House and the country that our fight against it will continue."
Despite just last week declaring his aim to save the family Christmas, the PM warned the clampdown will last at least six months
It came just hours before Scots leader Nicola Sturgeon announced a complete ban on household mixing north of the border - saying Boris' rules didn't go far enough.
The First Minister said this afternoon the new restrictions on indoor gatherings comes alongside 10pm curfews for pubs - but people can continue to meet each other in outdoor settings.
The PM announced no new restrictions on households meeting up today - but ministers are holding the move in reserve in case the spike in infections continues.
The number of new cases is growing fastest for people in their 20s, he said today, but it's now spreading to other age groups, Boris said.
And it's likely to get even worse as Britain goes into winter, he said.
Boris said: "This is by no means a return to a full lockdown as in March.
"We are not issuing a general instruction to stay at home. We will ensure that schools and universities stay open.
"But we must take action to suppress the disease."
Ministers want to avoid shutting down shops and offices once again if they can help it.
And schools will be the absolute last thing to close too to try and keep kids' education on track.
Mr Johnson added: “We have to acknowledge this is a great and freedom-loving country.
"And while the vast majority have complied with the rules there have been too many breaches — too many opportunities for our invisible enemy to slip through undetected.
“The virus has started to spread again in an exponential way. Infections are up, hospital admissions are climbing.”
The PM faced a wave of fury from Tory MPs who warned the new measures went too far and threatened both individual freedoms and even deeper economic damage.
And Mr Johnson now faces a major Tory rebellion in a crunch Commons vote next week over the new measures.
Tory Sir Desmond Swayne said he was “dismayed” and blasted today’s announcements as “the wrong strategy”.
Fellow Tory MP Richard Drax told The Sun: “I disagree with this very strongly and fundamentally. It’s going to cause a lot of harm to an awful lot of people.”
Former Cabinet minister David Davis said it had convinced him to back a move by Tory grandee Sir Graham Brady to give MPs a veto over future measures.
Tory MPs dubbed the home-working changes the 13th Covid U-turn from the PM — who recently led calls for staff to return to workplaces.
And one MP blasted: “I’m depressed, it’s not good.
“Opening pubs before gyms now looks really stupid. Telling people to ‘get back to work and get down the boozer’ now looks really dumb.”
Tonight, a snap YouGov poll found the overwhelming majority of the public backed the new restrictions — and half said the PM should go even further.
Boris Johnson's TV address in full
Good evening, the struggle against covid is the single biggest crisis the world has faced in my lifetime.
In less than a year this disease has killed almost a million people, and caused havoc to economies everywhere.
Here in the UK we mourn every person we have lost, and we grieve with their families.
And yet I am more certain than ever that this is a struggle that humanity will win, and we in this country will win – and to achieve what we must I want to talk to you directly tonight about the choices that we face – none of them easy – and why we must take action now. I know that we can succeed because we have succeeded before.
When the sickness took hold in this country in March, we pulled together in a spirit of national sacrifice and community. We followed the guidance to the letter.
We stayed at home, protected the NHS, and saved thousands of lives. And for months with those disciplines of social distancing we have kept that virus at bay.
But we have to acknowledge this this is a great and freedom-loving country; and while the vast majority have complied with the rules there have been too many breaches – too many opportunities for our invisible enemy to slip through undetected.
The virus has started to spread again in an exponential way.
Infections are up, hospital admissions are climbing.
We can see what is happening in France and Spain, and we know, alas, that this virus is no less fatal than it was in the spring, and that the vast majority of our people are no less susceptible, and the iron laws of geometrical progression are shouting at us from the graphs that we risk many more deaths, many more families losing loved ones before their time; and I know that faced with that risk the British people will want their government to continue to fight to protect them, you, and that is what we are doing, night and day.
And yet the single greatest weapon we bring to this fight is the common sense of the people themselves – the joint resolve of this country to work together to suppress covid now.
So today I set out a package of tougher measures in England – early closing for pubs, bars; table service only; closing businesses that are not covid secure; expanding the use of face coverings, and new fines for those that fail to comply; and once again asking office workers to work from home if they can while enforcing the rule of six indoors and outdoors – a tougher package of national measures combined with the potential for tougher local restrictions for areas already in lockdown.
I know that this approach – robust but proportionate – already carries the support of all the main parties in parliament. After discussion with colleagues in the Devolved Administrations, I believe this broad approach is shared across the whole UK.
And to those who say we don’t need this stuff, and we should leave people to take their own risks, I say these risks are not our own. The tragic reality of having covid is that your mild cough can be someone else’s death knell.
And as for the suggestion that we should simply lock up the elderly and the vulnerable – with all the suffering that would entail – I must tell you that this is just not realistic, because if you let the virus rip through the rest of the population it would inevitably find its way through to the elderly as well, and in much greater numbers.
That’s why we need to suppress the virus now, and as for that minority who may continue to flout the rules, we will enforce those rules with tougher penalties and fines of up to £10,000. We will put more police out on the streets and use the army to backfill if necessary.
And of course I am deeply, spiritually reluctant to make any of these impositions, or infringe anyone’s freedom, but unless we take action the risk is that we will have to go for tougher measures later, when the deaths have already mounted and we have a huge caseload of infection such as we had in the spring.
If we let this virus get out of control now, it would mean that our NHS had no space – once again – to deal with cancer patients and millions of other non-covid medical needs.
And if we were forced into a new national lockdown, that would threaten not just jobs and livelihoods but the loving human contact on which we all depend.
It would mean renewed loneliness and confinement for the elderly and vulnerable, and ultimately it would threaten once again the education of our children.
We must do all we can to avoid going down that road again. But if people don’t follow the rules we have set out, then we must reserve the right to go further.
We must take action now because a stitch in time saves nine; and this way we can keep people in work, we can keep our shops and our schools open, and we can keep our country moving forward while we work together to suppress the virus.
That is our strategy, and if we can follow this package together, then I know we can succeed because in so many ways we are better prepared than before.
We have the PPE, we have the beds, we have the Nightingales, we have new medicines – pioneered in this country – that can help save lives.
And though our doctors and our medical advisers are rightly worried about the data now, and the risks over winter, they are unanimous that things will be far better by the spring, when we have not only the hope of a vaccine, but one day soon – and I must stress that we are not there yet - of mass testing so efficient that people will be able to be tested in minutes so they can do more of the things they love.
That’s the hope; that’s the dream.
It’s hard, but it’s attainable, and we are working as hard as we can to get there.
But until we do, we must rely on our willingness to look out for each other, to protect each other. Never in our history has our collective destiny and our collective health depended so completely on our individual behaviour.
If we follow these simple rules together, we will get through this winter together.
There are unquestionably difficult months to come. And the fight against covid is by no means over. I have no doubt, however, that there are great days ahead.
But now is the time for us all to summon the discipline, and the resolve, and the spirit of togetherness that will carry us through.
Seven ways your life won't be the same
Pubs/restaurants
PUBS, bars and restaurants will have to shut up shop at 10pm sharp or risk heavy fines for breaching Covid rules.
It means last orders will now take place just after 9.30pm.
Staff must also wear masks at all times, and punters are barred from going to the bar to order.
Boozers must offer table service and risk being shut down if they allow people to gather in groups larger than six.
Takeaways must also shut at 10pm but deliveries can carry on later.
Social mixing
ENGLAND is sticking to the rule of six, breaking with the rest of the UK.
But indoor team sports will come under the rule for the first time, meaning five-a-side indoor footie is off the cards.
“Care bubbles” are allowed in areas with a ban on two households mixing so grandparents can help with childcare.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have both banned households mixing indoors.
Outside, two households can meet in groups of up to six. Under-12s are exempt.
Home working
THE Government is again encouraging people to work from home — but it does not apply to those who cannot easily do so such as those in construction, manufacturing, hospitality, retail and education.
Public sector employees processing essential services including passports, driving licences and probate should continue going into the office.
The move is designed to reduce chains of transmission but ensure as “little disruption as possible”.
Fines, face masks
WORKERS in shops, pubs, restaurants, bars and hotels must wear face coverings.
Punters must also wear one in pubs until they are seated at a table.
All taxi passengers must also wear coverings.
Fines for failing to wear a mask and breaking the rule of six have doubled to £200.
Penalties were increased after too many people failed to comply, with fines doubling on every new breach.
Businesses that break Covid rules could be fined up to £10,000 and shut down altogether.
Army on street
TROOPS from three battalions will step in if police are over-stretched.
They may be drafted in to guard key sites such as Parliament, Downing Street and nuclear power stations.
About 500 troops will form the first wave of reinforcements with 12 hours’ notice, according to defence sources.
No10 said: “This would involve the military filling duties such as office roles and guarding protected sites so police officers can enforce the virus response.”
Weddings
FROM Monday, wedding ceremonies and receptions in England have to be capped at 15 people but funeral services can still have 30 attendees.
Celebrations held this weekend narrowly avoid the new rules.
Thirty guests are allowed in Wales while in Scotland ceremonies and receptions can admit 20.
Numbers permitted in Northern Ireland depend on the venue.
One bride, due to get married on December 12 after being engaged for five years, said she was “gutted”.
Sport
MINISTERS have scuppered plans to get Premier League fans back into stadiums next month, with spectators unlikely to be allowed in to see games until next year.
Plans to allow up to 1,000 fans into lower league games have also been axed.
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But fans will still be able to attend “non-elite” games under the sixth tier of English football, providing vital revenue to community clubs.
But indoor sports, like five-a-side footie, are banned after their exemption to the rule of six was removed.
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