Covid: 'Too early to say' whether England lockdown will end on December 2, says Matt Hancock

Matt Hancock has told ITV News "it is too early to say" whether England's national lockdown will end on December 2 as Boris Johnson has planned, with the government waiting to see if coronavirus numbers have sufficiently dropped before relaxing restrictions.

The health secretary said there's "a bit longer to wait" before the government can know the impact of the lockdown, which has forced the closure of most hospitality businesses and banned most social interactions.

When asked by ITV News Health Editor Emily Morgan whether, half way through the current second lockdown we are on track to come out of it on December 2, he said: "Well, it's too early to say."

He said that data available now relates to people who caught Covid-19 "about the time we went into lockdown".

"I want to see those numbers [of coronavirus cases] coming down," he added, "and the best thing everybody can do is follow the rules."

Asked whether each area in England would go back into Tier 3 after lockdown, Mr Hancock said "there's no guarantees in any of this".

"What I can tell you is that we will do everything we can to keep people safe and to keep people as free as they possibly can be and to open up the economy as much as safely can.

"But obviously keeping the virus under control is critical."

Ministers have been careful not to promise lockdown will end on December 2, with the current plan for restrictions to expire on that date.

Prime Minister Johnson - who is currently in self-isolation - has said MPs will then get the chance to vote on whether restrictions should be extended, but with his large majority in the Commons, the decision is likely to be just his.

It is understood the plan is for England to return to a tiered system for lockdowns, with each area being designated a different alert level according to local R numbers.

A group of reportedly around 50 backbench Tories have formed aimed at opposing future lockdowns, which, if they all voted to oppose a lockdown extension, could beat the government.

But the prime minister has repeatedly insisted that restrictions will end on December 2.

In a recent speech to the Confederation of British Industry conference, he said: "Believe me, we will end these autumn measures on December 2, when they expire."

But on Saturday, a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said England will only be able to exit lockdown if people stick to the rules.

Professor Susan Michie told the BBC: "I think the next two weeks is going to be absolutely crucial.

“They’re going to be a very challenging two weeks, partly because of the weather, partly because, I think, the promise of a vaccine may be making people feel complacent.

“But the vaccine is very unlikely to come in until the end of the year or beginning of next year and that’s going to make no difference to the current second wave.

“So I think for the next two weeks, everybody has to really get all their resolve together.”

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