'Stay at home': Johnson locks down England as UK COVID-19 cases pass 1 million

By Andrew MacAskill and Guy Faulconbridge

 

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a press conference where he announces new restrictions to help combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain October 31, 2020. Alberto Pezzali/Pool via REUTERS

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered England back into a national lockdown after the United Kingdom passed the milestone of one million COVID-19 cases and a second wave of infections threatened to overwhelm the health service.

 

The United Kingdom, which has the biggest official death toll in Europe from COVID-19, is grappling with more than 20,000 new coronavirus cases a day and scientists have warned the "worst case" scenario of 80,000 dead could be exceeded.

 

Johnson, at a hastily convened news conference in Downing Street after news of a lockdown leaked to local media, said that the one-month lockdown across England would kick in after midnight on Thursday morning and last until Dec. 2.

 

In some of the most onerous restrictions in Britain's peacetime history, people will only be allowed to leave home for specific reasons such as education, work, exercise, shopping for essentials and medicines or caring for the vulnerable.

 

"We must act now," Johnson said, flanked by his chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and his chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance. "Unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day."

 

The government will revive its emergency coronavirus wage subsidy scheme to ensure workers who are temporarily laid off during a new England-wide lockdown receive 80% of their pay, he said.

 

Essential shops, schools, and universities will remain open, Johnson said, and while elite sports will continue, amateur sports for adults and children will be asked to stop.

 

Pubs and restaurants will be shut apart from for takeaways, and outbound international travel will be discouraged except for work. All non-essential retail will close.

 

Places of worship will remain open for private prayer, though funerals will be limited to close family members only.

 

Johnson's imposition of stricter curbs came after scientists warned the outbreak was going in the wrong direction and that action was needed to halt the spread of the virus if families were to have any hope of gathering at Christmas.

 

EUROPE LOCKED DOWN

 

The measures bring England into alignment with France and Germany by imposing nationwide restrictions almost as severe as the ones that drove the global economy this year into its deepest recession in generations.

 

Johnson was criticised by political opponents for moving too slowly into the first national lockdown, which stretched from March 23 to July 4. He fell ill with COVID in late March and was hospitalised in early April.

 

A national lockdown represents a dramatic change of policy for the prime minister, who has been saying for months that it will not be necessary.

 

Two weeks ago he defended his strategy of a patchwork of local restrictions by saying he wanted to avoid the "misery of a national lockdown". Currently, areas of England are subject to one of three tiers of coronavirus restrictions.

 

"I am optimistic that this will feel very different and better by the spring," Johnson said, adding that there was realistic hope of a vaccine in the first quarter of next year.

 

Asked by reporters what took him so long to impose a national lockdown, Johnson said it was a constant struggle to balance the risk to life and the risk to livelihoods.

 

"We have to mindful the whole time of the scarring and the long-term economic impact of the measures," Johnson said. His medical adviser Whitty said that without the tougher measures then the National Health Service could be overwhelmed.

 

Keir Starmer, the opposition Labour leader, who called for a lockdown two weeks ago, said the delay introducing the restrictions will come "at an economic cost and a human cost".

 

Lawmakers are expected to vote on the proposals on Wednesday.

 

The new lockdown will heap more pressure on finance minister Rishi Sunak and the Bank of England to increase their already huge support for the UK economy, the world's sixth-biggest. The economy slumped a record 20% in the spring.

 

So far, the United Kingdom has reported 46,555 COVID-19 deaths - defined as those dying within 28 days of a positive test. A broader measure of those with COVID-19 on their death certificates puts the toll at 58,925.

 

The United Kingdom has the world's fifth largest official death toll, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

 

(Additional reporting by Alistair Smout, Kate Holton and William Schomberg; Editing by Frances Kerry, Kevin Liffey, Christina Fincher and Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-11-01

 

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Say what you will about Boris what he did takes courage he gained my respect good luck England 

4 minutes ago, Tug said:

Say what you will about Boris what he did takes courage he gained my respect good luck England 

I think you need to take a closer look.

Political expediency trumps science. Again.

once this is all either over or under control the world economy is going to be decimated. good luck. we are in for a really rough ride over the coming years. 

 

peace be with you all. 

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Say what you will about Boris what he did takes courage he gained my respect good luck England 

10 days ago when it was obvious that the covid situation in England was spiraling out of control Boris Johnson called Keir Starmers suggestion of a national lockdown 'the height of absurdity'.

The man is an incompetent charlatan.

As someone who is over 60 I took note of the possible death projections Chris Whittey gave in the briefing for my age group. For that reason alone I support the lockdown. As other have said, all political parties have wanted this lockdown. I am in a tier 1 area but others are not so lucky.



 

6 hours ago, Tug said:

Say what you will about Boris what he did takes courage he gained my respect good luck England 

Yeah, as long he's PM he shows us mismanagement, confusion, selfishness, narcissism, racism, and stupidiness. 

But in the past he was good in fathering. ????

Much of this doesn't make sence. First we had 'synchronized sky clapping' every Thursday for 3 months, which was quickly undermined by redundant NHS staff being bored/idle to the point where they felt able to upload 'dance routine' clips to tik-tok from empty wards while (mis)using very expensive taxpayer(✓)-funded appliances as props (a wheeled xray machine in one classic example). Later we had Nightingale hospitals being hastily erected; not being used; mothballed and (some if not all) being torn down again at a cost of £loads to the public; & just last week clips have appeared from a dozen or more so called covid testing centres around the country where not a single car has entered/left the facility all day yet no one is able to book an appointment cos they're all full...? ????

 

Something is going on & it is nothing whatsoever to do with the nonsence we're being spoonfed from on high.

 

(& for the Ponti's & 'ne'er do wells' I should make clear that I'm posting as a ???????? taxpayer with an opinion while living in ????????)

 

Absolute economic terrorism.

 

I picked up 2 things from his speech.

 

1. They stated about 10 people were going into hospital per 100,000 in the 20-60 bracket. New York had published figures somewhere like 90% of hospitalizations were due to obesity or previous conditions. So basically 2 healthy  20 to 60 years old being admitted per 100,000 people !! Madness. The bulk of all hospitalizations and deaths were 74-100.

 

Basically if the old , infirm, obese stayed home, the rest could get on with life with precautions. The old and fat are filling the hospitals, not the young and fit. 75,000 people are dying from missed cancer screenings for the sake of average 82 years old deaths from covid.

 

This economic terrorism is destroying the lives of the young. It probably won't effect me , I own my home, my annuities are guaranteed and state UK pension is looming soon, but the young will be paying for this debacle for the next 20 years at the expense of their lives and housing. 

 

2. It was stated that at the start of December the likelihood was that deaths would be the same as the peak of the Spring in the UK. If anyone - ANYONE - thinks that they will open for x-mas with at the peak of deaths they are deluded. UK will NOT be open by X-mas, be lucky by February.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New sites are saying that international travel is banned except for work.

 

I've got my flight booked on Qatar for 18 November on a Non-O with COE already issued and ASQ booked etc. I don't know if I'll be able to fly or not.

 

gov.uk says this

 

Overnight stays and holidays away from primary residences will not be allowed- including holidays in the UK and abroad. This includes staying in a second home, if you own one, or staying with anyone you do not live with or are in a support bubble with. There are specific exceptions, for example if you need to stay away from home (including in a second home) for work purposes.

 

A Non-O issues for the purpose of visiting family is not a tourist Visa. Do they class that as a "holiday" ?  Who would enforce that rule - airport check-in staff ? Someone else ?  I'm visiting for all of the initial 90 days and will definitely extend it in-country for 12 months and probably won't return until next summer.  Why would the UK government want to prevent me from going ?

7 hours ago, Tug said:

Say what you will about Boris what he did takes courage he gained my respect good luck England 

It was September when SAGE and the scientists recommended that Johnson introduced a "circuit break"  at school half term, but Boris ignored it.  The prediction was that there would be a serious spike if he did nothing.  The spike has exceeded the "worse case scenario" predicted by SAGE.  Instead of a two week circuit break lockdown when the schools could be closed without any damage to school terms, we are now left with a four week (sort of) lockdown with schools, colleges and universities remaining open, which will dilute the effect.

 

Many backbenchers now complaining that Boris has been bounced into this action before getting proper feedback from the local three tier system currently in place.  This new U-turn is just more evidence that Johnson and Cummings haven't got a clue how to deal with this pandemic effectively and once again confusion reigns.

 

This is not really a proper lockdown anyway. More an extension of tier three.  People can still go to work and with the education establishments still operating as normal, it is only really the entertainment sector that is being closed down.  Even then restaurants, pubs (with food) and cafes can serve takeaways.  The furlough scheme, due to end yesterday, has been extended until December.

Funny that a team of whole footballers, subs, manager and support staff can meet in a small changing room and go home to their families , but the rest of the population can't meet up in such numbers

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Funny that a team of whole footballers, subs, manager and support staff can meet in a small changing room and go home to their families , but the rest of the population can't meet up in such numbers

All of them tested on a daily basis so not so funny really.

if the decision was up to the 'business men' another 100,000 dead would be written up as 'commerce expenses' and that 'they were old people, probably going to die soon anyways'..

1 hour ago, Tuvoc said:

A Non-O issues for the purpose of visiting family is not a tourist Visa. Do they class that as a "holiday" ?  Who would enforce that rule - airport check-in staff ? Someone else ?  I'm visiting for all of the initial 90 days and will definitely extend it in-country for 12 months and probably won't return until next summer.  Why would the UK government want to prevent me from going ?

This is a big worry to us all who were/are on the verge of return

So happy I am in Sweden now and not in England. This will kill the economy.

26 minutes ago, Whale said:

This is a big worry to us all who were/are on the verge of return

 

Yes. I think it is best that I move my travel date to after 2nd December (hopefully the lockdown won't be extended)

 

That involves

- changing the ASQ booking

- changing the flight

- getting a new COE

- changing the booking for the pre-flight COVID test

 

There could be a way around it - travel away from home is allowed for "support bubbles". If you live alone you are allowed to form a support bubble with another household and travel there. The government recommends that the household be local, but that is not a requirement, and from what I've read it can be international. 

 

The government recommends that you form a support bubble with a household that lives locally wherever possible.

 

 If you have no family in the UK and your only family is abroad, then from what I'm seeing you can form a support bubble with a household in Thailand and legally travel there. I'm not sure though if I'd want to have to justify it to an official who may be having a bad day.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/making-a-support-bubble-with-another-household

 

7 hours ago, mr mr said:

once this is all either over or under control the world economy is going to be decimated. good luck. we are in for a really rough ride over the coming years. 

 

peace be with you all. 

We nearly all did not want to believe what about every virologist, epidemiologist on the world said.

In January not closed the border with China, in Feb. keep all as open as possible ( the quarantaine in northern Italy so open, a Slovenian TV crew could go in, make a report and.. left again, showing many in that area did the same. Saturday 22 Feb 19:30 at our local RTL-news. 19 Feb the open air football mach Bergamo-Valencia. The rest is history). In March the alarm bells went off, with the discovery: close-to-zero personal protection clothes, preparations non-existing. In UK even a happy-handshake program of Boris. 

When the virus was nearly pushed out, all forgot all precautions, with result... to be in real deep sh.t now.

That will keep the universal credit work coach of my back for another month happy Christmas ????

tourists from spain caused the latest spike so he has locked down leasure travel

 

***************************************************************************************

 

Overseas travel from England that’s not related to work will be prohibited to help curb a resurgence of the coronavirus, throwing airlines into a fresh crisis.

 

 

 

The new rules, part of a wider partial lockdown by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will apply from Thursday until Dec. 2 and come as the industry struggles to survive a collapse in demand. Airlines hadn’t been informed about the restrictions before Johnson’s announcement Saturday evening, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified as they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

 

 

Carriers were already reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic. They have eliminated jobs, retired older fuel-guzzling aircraft and turned to capital markets and asset sales to survive a slump in travel. Many have slashed capacity further in the wake of the resurgence in Covid-19 infections during the slower winter season.

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-31/airlines-suffer-blow-as-england-bans-non-work-overseas-travel

So...listening to Gove, which I promised myself I wouldn't do anymore, we are having to lockdown because the modeling and the statistics supporting that modeling was wrong........which begs the question..... what modeling was SAGE using when they recommended a lockdown 21st Sept????

23 minutes ago, 3NUMBAS said:

 

Overseas travel from England that’s not related to work will be prohibited to help curb a resurgence of the coronavirus, throwing airlines into a fresh crisis.

 

 

I've seen some suggestions that this is guidance only and not a legal ban. We just don't know at the moment, it will all become clearer in the next day or two.

 

There do appear to be other legal exceptions - for example travel to a support bubble, which can be located outside England's borders.

Desolate high streets, masked hoodlums, working classes ''under classes'' crammed into disgusting housing.  Those were the good days before covid 19.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-travel-rules-after-england-goes-into-second-lockdown-on-thursday-12120410

 

Coronavirus: Travel rules after England goes into second lockdown on Thursday

Almost all outbound international travel is banned when new nationwide restrictions come in on 5 November.

By Lara Keay, news reporter

I've read that. And several other website as well. "Almost all".

 

We will know more of the fine detail early next week.

 

 

Just now, johnray said:

Desolate high streets, masked hoodlums, working classes ''under classes'' crammed into disgusting housing.  Those were the good days before covid 19.

the xmas lights are  been turned on in oxford street on nov 2nd

 

getting very dickensian soon with bill sykes making an appearance with his dog patch

49 minutes ago, 3NUMBAS said:

getting very dickensian soon with bill sykes making an appearance with his dog patch

Bullseye

8 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

if the decision was up to the 'business men' another 100,000 dead would be written up as 'commerce expenses' and that 'they were old people, probably going to die soon anyways'..

 There are certainly members here who think that; as evidenced by their posts.