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Ministers should take a cautious approach to lifting the lockdown in England so that new cases of coronavirus can be reduced to a manageable level of 1,000 a day, Jeremy Hunt said.
In an interview with the Guardian, the former health secretary and current chairman of the select health committee said the government should aim to suppress Covid enough to make a South Korean-style intensive contact tracing approach possible.
With test-confirmed Covid cases running at over 20,000 a day, his approach would suggest that some restrictions remain in place for an extended period. The last time new infections were consistently below 1,000 was in August.
Hunt’s intervention, made in a personal capacity, comes as debate rages in Cabinet about which sectors of the economy to reopen and when. Rishi Sunak’s allies on Thursday denied reports that the Chancellor had grown enraged with government science advisers, saying they had “shifted the focus” on when businesses can be reopened, saying the cases must drop suddenly.
Hunt warned that the emergence of potentially dangerous new variants made rushing risky. “I think we have to recognize that the game has changed tremendously over Christmas with these new variations, and that we must not make the mistake we made last year by thinking that we are not going to have another resurgence. of the virus, “he said.
Boris Johnson and his cabinet colleagues face a series of key decisions in the coming weeks on how to monitor the success of the immunization program by lifting the ‘stay at home’ order and reopening stores, pubs and other businesses. Schools are expected to reopen from March 8.
An aide to Sunak said he “shared the same point of view as the prime minister and other members of the government: we should be careful in our approach”.
But the suggestion that Sunak is keen to act quickly will not have damaged his reputation with many Tory MPs, a large cohort of whom is pushing for restrictions to be lifted in line with the vaccination schedule.
“Public health officials would shut down schools for the rest of the year,” said a frustrated former Tory minister, who said WhatsApp groups of Tory MPs were buzzing with demands for lockdown rules to be lifted as soon as possible. as possible. “The public needs to see the success of vaccinations evolve in parallel with the lifting of restrictions.”
In contrast, Hunt said, “I think we have to listen to scientific advice very carefully. I never saw it as an economy against health. Koreans and Taiwanese have kept their economies open. All of their restaurants are open because they have reduced transmission of cases, and we just have to do what it takes to get there. And for me, where I am is, you just need to reduce the number to 1,000 new infections per day or less. “
Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said earlier this week that new infections are “going down but they are still incredibly high” and warned that if they start to rise again “from the very high levels we are Le NHS will get back into trouble extraordinarily quickly ”.
Hunt used his role as chair of the special all-stakeholder committee on health to review the government’s handling of the pandemic, including calling early on in the outbreak for an effective system of testing, tracing and isolation. Head of Testing and Traceability Dido Harding conceded to the Hunt committee earlier this week that up to 20,000 people were ignoring instructions to self-isolate every day.
Ministers are expected to give the green light later this month for schools to reopen on March 8, and No.10 faces intense pressure from a vocal group of Tory backbenchers who want see other restrictions quickly lifted thereafter.
Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of skeptical backbenchers, said all restrictions should be lifted once the first nine priority groups – including all over 50s – receive their first dose of vaccine. The government has not given a deadline for this to happen, but Harper has hinted it could be late May or early June.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson wanted to open schools by March 8 but was dismissed by the prime minister, who took a cautious tone in his recent public appearances.
Some of Hunt’s concerns are shared by Cabinet Minister Michael Gove and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who are among those urging the Prime Minister to be wary.
Firm data is not yet available on whether new variants of the disease may be resistant to vaccines, and new mutations may still emerge. “Everything has to be at its lowest before you move,” said a source from the Department of Health, who added, “Matt’s point is that if you are tough in some key areas, it will get you bigger. freedoms. “
The Prime Minister has promised to publish a “road map” setting out his plans to unlock the economy in the week of February 22.
Asked whether Johnson agreed with the assessment of Sage member Professor Andrew Hayward – who on Thursday suggested the country would be ‘more or less’ back to normal for the summer – the official spokesperson Prime Minister said: “Obviously this remains the Prime Minister’s point of view. that we want to start loosening the lockdown restrictions and we are keen to do so… As we have done throughout the pandemic , we will be guided by scientific evidence and data.
The unions have called for the ‘Covid-secure’ rules for workplaces to be updated before the government considers lifting the notice that the public should work from home if possible.
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