London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2025

Raab suggests UK lockdown could last at least another month

Raab suggests UK lockdown could last at least another month

PM’s deputy backs chief scientific adviser, saying public must stay in until peak has passed

People in Britain have been warned that there is “a long way to go” before lockdown measures to curb the spread of coronavirus are likely to be relaxed, with the UK’s chief scientific adviser suggesting they could last another month.

As the country entered its fourth week of rules compelling the public to stay at home except for essential work, shopping or exercise, Sir Patrick Vallance said he expected the number of deaths from coronavirus to continue rising this week before hitting a plateau that could last up to three weeks.

Only when the UK was “firmly on the other side” would it be safe to relax some of the restrictions, Vallance told the the daily Downing Street press briefing, implying that the lockdown measures in place could easily last another month.

His comments, coming three weeks after Boris Johnson announced a lockdown, were backed by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, who said it was “absolutely crucially important” not to let up at this point.

When Johnson announced the lockdown on 23 March, he said it would be reviewed after three weeks, adding: “We will keep these restrictions under constant review. We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to.”

However, ministers are now looking at proposals that would involve the restrictions being removed gradually, with some of the physical distancing measures possibly being maintained for many months.

Raab, who is deputising for the prime minister while he recovers at Chequers from the Covid-19 infection that led to him spending a week in hospital, said he spoke to Johnson on Saturday.

The government must decide by Thursday this week whether to renew the three-week lockdown period. The foreign secretary said a formal decision on how to ease the lockdown would be taken after ministers received evidence from the scientific advisory group for emergencies (Sage).

He said: “We don’t expect to make any changes to the measures currently in place at that point and we won’t until we’re confident, as confident as we realistically can be, that any such changes can be safely made.”

The final decision would be signed off at an emergency Cobra meeting attended by the heads of the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who are expected to back the approach adopted by Westminster.

On Monday the Department of Health and Social Care said 11,329 hospital patients in the UK had now died from coronavirus, up 717 from the previous day’s total. The total number of coronavirus deaths is higher because the daily figure does not include deaths in care homes or private homes; the Office for National Statistics will release non-hospital deaths on Tuesday.

Vallance said there would be a further increase in the death rate. He went on: “Thereafter we should see a plateau as the effects of social distancing come through. That plateau may last for some time and begin to decrease.” Asked what he meant by “some time”, he said the plateau could last for “two or three weeks”.

He said if the lockdown measures were relaxed too early there was a danger that the infection rate could shoot back up. “We’ll look and see where the peak is and when we are firmly the other side of it in terms of numbers coming down,” Vallance said.

“Only at that stage do you start looking at what measures might be released and how they might be released. It would be a complete waste of everything that everyone has had to do until now … if we were to rapidly reverse that and lead to a re-emergence of this.”

Making the same point, Raab said: “We’ve still got a long way to go … We’ve still not passed the peak of this virus.”

The foreign secretary added: “It’s absolutely crucially important that we do not take our eye off the ball or the public’s focus on the thing that has been a success so far in relative terms – which is our ability through widespread support for our social distancing measures to deprive this virus of the means to spread.”

Earlier it emerged that the cabinet as a whole may not be involved in the formal decision to extend the lockdown, and for how long.

Although it normally meets on a Tuesday, no meeting has been scheduled for this week, the prime minister’s spokesman told the daily lobby briefing. He said the main work coordinating the government’s response to coronavirus was being done at the regular morning No 10 meeting, which is attended by a small number of senior ministers and is referred to as the “war cabinet’” by officials.

Raab is chairing it in the prime minister’s absence. Other key decisions are being taken by the four coronavirus ministerial groups, the spokesman said.

Johnson left St Thomas’ hospital in London on Sunday after a week as an inpatient including three nights in intensive care. There was a 48-hour period when things “could have gone either way”, he said of his treatment.

He is recuperating at Chequers in Buckinghamshire – the official retreat for serving prime ministers – where he has been reunited with his pregnant fiancee, Carrie Symonds. A spokesman said Johnson was not doing any government work there and was “focusing on recovery”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US and Qatar Warn EU of Trade and Energy Risks from Tough Climate Regulation
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
×