London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Covid: Dominic Raab rejects CRG calls for lockdown easing date

Covid: Dominic Raab rejects CRG calls for lockdown easing date

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has rejected calls from Conservative MPs to put a date on when England's lockdown measures will be eased, saying the government will be "cautious".

The lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group (CRG) said all restrictions must be lifted by the end of April.

Mr Raab told the BBC he was "confident" in the vaccine rollout, but added: "You can't get ahead of the evidence."

So far 14.5 million people have had at least one dose of the vaccine.

Mr Raab said that the government was "on track" to hit its target of offering the vaccine to 15 million people from the top four priority groups by Monday.

The CRG has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to say there will be no justification for Covid laws once the top nine priority groups have been vaccinated - which the government is planning to have done by May.

Mr Raab told the BBC's Andrew Marr: "We share all of the ambition and the desire to get out of this lockdown. We want to do it responsibly and safely and therefore it's got to be based on the evidence," adding, "You can't get ahead of the evidence of the impact of the vaccine on the transmission."

He said the R-rate was between 0.7 and 1 and, as of Friday, the seven-day totals for admissions, cases and fatalities were down by between a fifth and a quarter respectively.

But developments needed to be monitored "in real time", making it difficult to give guarantees or be precise about an end of April or beginning of May date for easing, he said.

Mr Johnson said on Saturday he planned a "cautious" reopening - the road map for which will be unveiled on 22 February, with restrictions on outdoor recreation expected to be among the first to be relaxed.

The CRG - which was formed in November to oppose a third lockdown and says it has the backing of 63 MPs for its letter - said the prime minister should set out a plan for "a return to normal life" from 8 March.

That is three weeks after Monday's target date for vaccinating 15 million of the most vulnerable - the same length of time the vaccine is believed to need to start taking effect - and the date pencilled in by the government for schools reopening.


The top four priority groups, targeted for vaccination by 15 February include:

*  Older residents in care homes and staff

*  Health and social care workers

*  Everyone over the age of 70

*  Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable to coronavirus

The vaccine rollout has already been officially extended to people outside these groups, with invitations going out in England to people aged 65 to 69 and younger people who are in an at-risk group.


Boris Johnson will spend the next few days looking at data on the spread of coronavirus and the success of the vaccine rollout, before deciding how quickly to reopen society.

We know roughly what the order will be: schools, followed by outdoor mixing, non-essential shops then hospitality.

Some Conservative MPs - who have been close to the prime minister in recent years - are urging Mr Johnson to move fairly quickly and lift all restrictions by May, when the government plans to have give a first dose to everyone over 50.

But Downing Street has been stung in the past after moving too quickly and having to re-impose restrictions in a matter of weeks.

That's why ministers are being cautious at the moment - and why the foreign secretary said it would be wrong to set an arbitrary date.

The CRG called for pubs and restaurants to open by Easter in a "Covid-secure" and "commercially viable" way, saying two-thirds of the people in the top nine priority groups should have had a first vaccine dose by then.

And by the end of the April, when all the priority groups should have had one jab of vaccine, they say all lockdown laws should be removed.

The group says the burden of proof should be on ministers to show restrictions are necessary.


Scientists and medics have urged caution, saying there is still potential for another surge in cases.

Dr Shondipon Laha, a member of the Intensive Care Society, dismissed the idea that Covid-19 could end up being seen on the same level as the flu - something that has been suggested by Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Mr Johnson.

"It's not just deadlier, it's more debilitating. So we're expecting to see significant numbers of patients who have had Covid who need intense rehabilitation."

"We know that every patient that comes to an intensive care unit that needs ventilation loses muscle mass at 2-3% per day," Dr Laha said, adding that many such patients cannot stand and have problems with their long-term memories.

Dr Sarah Pitt, a virologist at the University of Brighton, said the variations of coronavirus were becoming more infectious and more dangerous, also dismissing suggestions it could be treated the same as flu.

She said restrictions should be lifted "very gently", and that, in the future, "short, sharp" lockdowns should be introduced for a few days to target smaller, localised outbreaks - similar to those being used in Australia.



Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab: "You can't get ahead of the evidence"


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×