BORIS Johnson will give a Downing Street press conference tonight at 5pm – and warn there’s still a “way to go” to get cases down.
The PM will address the nation tonight after record death rates were seen this week – and urge people to continue to stay inside to reduce the pressure on the NHS.
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A Downing Street official told Playbook that the PM will insist “there’s still a way to go” and urge Brits not to break the rules.
But he will hail the vaccine rollout – revealing that 2million Brits have been vaccinated in the last week alone.
Ministers are worried that the numbers aren’t coming down as swiftly as in previous lockdowns – possibly as a result of the new variant.
A record 1,820 deaths were reported earlier this week – and cases are still sky-high though they have fallen across the country.
Hospitals are under significant pressure with Britain’s Covid alert level still at five – meaning they are at risk of being overwhelmed.
The official said: “This has been a very bleak week and we need everybody to keep sticking to the rules and helping to protect hospitals, which are under the most tremendous pressure.
“We aren’t yet seeing the sharp fall in infections that we had last April and May and we need to keep going.”
It comes as:
- George Eustice said officials were looking at more ways to crackdown on borders and even shut them completely to stop new variants reaching Britain’s shores
- Leaked documents revealed plans to give everyone who tests positive £500 – but the Treasury said they’d not even heard of the proposal
- Plans are being firmed up for the UK to start forcing people to quarantine
It came after Boris said yesterday
The lockdown was reviewed earlier this week and no changes were made. It legally has to be looked at every two weeks – but nothing is set to change until after February 15.
