By Tony O’Riley-
Johnson says the UK faces a “medical and moral disaster” unless tough action is taken now to stop the spread of coronavirus, the prime minister has warned.
In an address to Mps today, the prime minister told Boris Johnson that there was “no alternative” but to introduce a lockdown in England – which is due to come into force on Thursday. The new lockdown rules will see pubs, restaurants, gyms, non-essential shops, and places of worship closed until December 2, when the Uk is expected to return to regional tiers.
Johnson is facing opposition from some Mps who strongly opposed his month lockdown plan, but general support from the Labour party means the decision will get the nod from Parliament. Johnson says lockdown restrictions will be eased on December 1, but his Foreign Secretary Michael Gove, has already said the duration of the restrictions could be extended depending on the facts from the science.
Labour opposition leader, Sir Keir Starmer criticised the government’s “inaction” and said it meant “the lockdown will be harder, longer and more damaging than it needed to be”.
He confirmed his party would support the government in Wednesday’s vote, but called for the four-week period to be used to “fix the broken track and trace system and give control to local authorities”.
Mr Johnson promised to extend the furlough scheme, adding that the government will double its support from 40% to 80% of trading profits for the self-employed from next month. In his Commons statement, Mr Johnson said there was “no alternative” but to introduce national restrictions in light of the latest coronavirus data.
He said the latest figures showed there is no alternative but to take further action at a national level.”
He insisted it was “right to try every possible option” before imposing a nationwide lockdown, and rejected criticism that the UK had been slower to act that other countries in Europe.
Let me spell out the medical and moral disaster we face.
If we allow our health system to be overwhelmed – exactly as the data now suggests then that would not only be a disaster for thousands of Covid patients, because their survival rates would fall,
We would also reach a point where the NHS was no longer there for everyone.
The sick would be turned away because there was no room in our hospitals.
That sacred principle – of care for anyone who needs it, whoever they are and whenever they need it – could be broken for the first time in our lives.
Doctors and nurses could be forced to choose which patients to treat, who would live and who would die.
And this existential threat to our NHS comes not from focusing too much on Coronavirus, but from not focusing enough.
He said: “Doctors and nurses could be forced to choose which patients to treat, who would live and who would die”, posing what he called an “existential threat” to the health service.
“If we fail to get coronavirus under control, it is the sheer weight of demand from Covid patients that would deprive others of the care they need. Cancer treatment, heart surgery, other life-saving procedures, all this could be put at risk if we do not get the virus under control.”
The PM said the government would continue to do everything it could to support businesses and jobs during lockdown. Pubs, restaurants, gyms, and non-essential shops and places of worship would be closed.