London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

Covid: 'Too early' to say if lockdown will end in spring - Boris Johnson

Covid: 'Too early' to say if lockdown will end in spring - Boris Johnson

It is "too early" to say whether England's Covid restrictions will be able to end in the spring, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

Once the four priority groups have been vaccinated, by mid-February, "we'll look then at how we're doing," he said.

Nearly two million people in the UK have had their first dose of vaccine in the past week, government figures show.

Scientist Marc Baguelin, who advises the government, has said restaurants and bars should not reopen before May.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said he "certainly hopes" schools in England can fully reopen before Easter, while Downing Street refused to be drawn on whether this would happen by then.

A further 1,290 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test and there have been another 37,892 cases, according to the latest government figures.

And almost five million people in the UK have had their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
Speaking after a study suggested infections might have increased at the start of the latest lockdown in England, Mr Johnson said it was "absolutely crucial" that people observed the restrictions.

Referring to figures from the Imperial College London survey, he said they showed the new variant of the virus was "not more deadly but it is much more contagious and the numbers are very great".

Figures published by Public Health England show cases - meaning people who come forward to get tested while they are infected - have fallen across England since early January.

With the two sets of figures pointing in different directions, it will be some time before it is known for sure how long it will take for lockdown to relieve the pressure on hospitals.



Dr Baguelin, from Imperial College, who sits on a sub-group of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said the premature opening of the hospitality sector would lead to a "bump" in Covid-19 cases.

He told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme even a partial reopening would generate "an increase in the R number". An R number above one means the epidemic is growing.

"Something of this scale, if it was to happen earlier than May, would generate a bump in transmission, which is already really bad," he said.

"So you have a lot of pressure on hospitals, you will have another wave of some extent. At best you will keep on having very, very unsustainable level of pressure on the NHS."

NHS England figures show one in 10 major hospital trusts had no spare adult critical care beds last week.



This is a debate that is going to start to dominate public discourse.

With the vaccination programme under way, there is huge clamour to know what will happen once the most vulnerable are vaccinated, by mid-February.

The problem is there are still so many unknowns.

Firstly, it is hard to predict by how much lockdown will have reduced infection levels, considering there is a new faster-spreading variant to deal with.

The level of uptake will also be crucial. Surveys suggest as many as one in five may not have the vaccine - although the older, more vulnerable groups tend to be the most willing to be vaccinated.

And the fact that no vaccine is 100% effective means come February there could still be significant numbers of very vulnerable people who are not protected.

Another factor is whether the vaccine stops transmissions - so-called sterilising vaccination.

Trials have shown the vaccines are good at stopping symptoms developing. But that does not mean someone who has received a jab will not pass on the virus.

If it does not, that, of course, has implications on how many control measures have to be kept in place. It will take us at least until spring to know the answer to this.

At this stage, it seems hard to see much beyond the possible reopening of schools come March.

'Serious problem'


Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was an "impossible question" to ask how long the lockdown would need to last.

Under the national lockdown, people in England must stay at home and only go out for limited reasons.

This includes for food shopping, exercise, or work if they cannot do so from home. Similar measures are in place across much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In Northern Ireland, coronavirus lockdown restrictions will be extended until 5 March, BBC News understands.

In Scotland, lockdown has been extended until at least the middle of February, with most school pupils to continue learning from home.

And in Wales health minister Vaughan Gething has said no "significant easing" of Wales' Covid restrictions should be expected when the current guidelines are reviewed this month.

Sir Keir added that the coronavirus vaccines were "really good news" but "should not mask the fact that we have still got a very serious problem".

The government is aiming to offer a vaccine to all over-70s, the extremely clinical vulnerable and health and care workers by mid-February.

Sixty-five new vaccination centres are opening in England, including a mosque in Birmingham and a cinema in Aylesbury.

In other developments:

*  Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced that all arrivals from Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be banned from the UK from 04:00 GMT on Friday over concerns about the South Africa variant

*  Fines of £800 for anyone attending a house party of more than 15 people will be introduced in England from next week

Covid vaccine supplies in Yorkshire and the North East are reportedly being diverted to other parts of England where vaccination rates are lower

*  Glastonbury Festival has been cancelled for a second year running

*  And assaults on emergency workers made up more than a quarter of Covid-related crimes prosecuted in the first six months of the pandemic


PM: It's too early to give a lockdown end date


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
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
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×