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Covid restrictions will revert if the virus gets ‘out of control’ again this year, the UK health secretary said, with a dangerous new variant or the NHS at risk of being overwhelmed identified by the time ‘plan B’ could be triggered.
Sajid Javid said he thought another lockdown was unlikely, but admitted it would be “irresponsible” to rule out ordering people to stay at home in England for the fourth time since the start of the pandemic.
He urged the public to remain vigilant after ministers released their “winter plan,” which will rely on vaccines to help life stay as close to normal as possible as Christmas approaches, despite with Covid cases and deaths already being much higher than they were at the same time last year.
As part of plan A, the focus will remain on ensuring that the 10% of people who have not yet received a vaccine receive their first vaccine, by deploying boosters to those over 50 and clinically vulnerable and by offering to vaccinate children aged 12 to 15 years.
However, if the Covid situation deteriorates, face masks could be made mandatory again on public transport and in shops, vaccine passports could be introduced and people could be asked to work from home again, as long as possible.
Javid said there was not a single trigger point that would lead to the introduction of Plan B, but suggested that it would likely go into effect if a dangerous new variant emerged against which vaccines were less effective or that the NHS was in danger of being overwhelmed.
“I don’t think we’re going to have another lockdown,” he told BBC Breakfast. “Vaccines work and other measures, but I think it would be irresponsible of any health minister in the world to say that this or that is 100% ruled out.
“Particularly because I just don’t know if in the future – next year, the year after, the year after – there might be a variant vaccine escape that wouldn’t work with the current suite of vaccines. So I think we must always be vigilant.
Javid later told Radio 4’s Today show: “If the situation – and it is an if – if it gets out of hand… we will, of course, have to act and potentially take further action. I think it’s fair that we define what they are and schedule them now so that we have them up our sleeve just in case. “
Javid also said the double pressure of a tough flu season and Covid meant the capacity of the NHS would be watched very closely.
“A dangerous new variant would of course be a huge and important concern,” he told Sky News. “But there could be other issues – for example, what’s going on in the NHS is going to be hugely important to me, to the whole country – making sure we don’t hit the point again where the NHS would become unsustainable. “
When asked what level would be unacceptable, Javid cited the level of hospitalization and the pressures on A&E and health service staff.
He also defended the fact that Conservative MPs are maskless when gathered in the House of Commons or around the Cabinet table, saying their actions were “in line” with government advice as this only applies to ‘to those who meet indoors “when they are with strangers”. “They are not strangers,” Javid said of his colleagues.
The health secretary also slammed pop star Nicki Minaj, after her tweets promoting myths about vaccine side effects. “People who spread disinformation – just outright lies – clearly, that doesn’t help,” he said. “I would just like to appeal to anyone in public office, please don’t do that.” You really hurt people because vaccines save lives and you do the opposite by spreading lies. So that sort of thing, of course, doesn’t help.
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