Covid: Decision on England lockdown to be made next week, minister says
A decision on whether to extend England's lockdown to due to be made next week, the Communities Secretary has suggested, but it is unclear what will happen if the national blanket restrictions end on December 2.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs it is "too early to say" what impact the lockdown has had on coronavirus transmission, but he hopes “a tiered system similar to what we had before” can be implemented.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has always said this would be the plan, but has been careful to say the restrictions simply "expire" on December 2 and MPs will be able to vote on any extension.
It is understood an extension will only be considered if the R number of coronavirus - the virus reproduction rate - has not been brought down by the end of lockdown.
When Robert Jenrick was asked what will happen after December 2, he said: "At the moment it is difficult to see the impact of the national measures".
"In a couple of weeks time that will be different and we will be able to make an informed judgement and inform the public on where we're going to go next."
While extending England's lockdown is an option available to the PM, Mr Jenrick told ITV News that "our hope and expectation is that the whole of England will exit from the new national measures on December 2".
"If we wanted to extend it we'd have to go back to the House of Commons and we've no intention of doing so."
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He added: "What we hope we will see at the end of this month is that in addition to that hard work, the national measures that we've had over the course of November have also had an impact and that will enable us to have a significant easing of restrictions in all parts of the country."
There is speculation that the tiered restrictions will be altered when lockdown ends after a top government scientist said the measures could be strengthened.
Dr Susan Hopkins, deputy director of Public Health England, told a Downing Street press conference: "We see very little effect from Tier 1 and I think when we look at what tiers may be there in the future we will have to think about strengthening them in order to get us through the winter months until the vaccine is available for everyone."
Mr Jenrick, asked whether the tier restrictions will be tightened, said: "We are reviewing how effective they were and what measures should be included within them and I think it's too early to comment on that .
"At the end of the month we should be able to set out to people what the tiers will look like and where we expect different parts of the country to sit within them."
He suggested that geography of tiers could be altered after lockdown.
When asked whether tiers should be designated based on districts rather than counties, Mr Hancock said: "Throughout the process of the tiered system, we've always looked at a level of granular detail whether that be district council-level or indeed at ward-level in some cases to make sure that we have the appropriate measures in the appropriate places.
"Whilst it's too early to say exactly how we'll proceed from December 3, that's a commitment that I can make."
The prime minister's spokesman said restrictions in different areas after lockdown will be based on the region's R number, hospital admissions, and the level of pressure the NHS trust is under.
"In terms of the progress which is being made, obviously we will wait to see further data over the course of the next week or so," the spokesman said.
He added the R number had been coming down "in some parts of the country".
"What we continue to do is follow the rules and by doing so we can slow the spread of the infection," he said.
The spokesman added how Mr Johnson is continuing to look at how people could be allowed to spend Christmas together.
He said: "We are looking at ways to ensure that people can spend time with close family over Christmas at the end of what has been an incredibly difficult year."