Coronavirus: Govt says lockdown depends on behaviour but expert says it should last until June
Written by News on 29/03/2020
Michael Gove says the length of the lockdown is not fixed but depends on the behaviour of the public.
Speaking to Sophy Ridge On Sunday, the Cabinet Office minister refused to give a time limit for the virus lockdown, but said if people follow guidelines then that period can be shortened.
He told Sky News: “There are different projections as to how long the lockdown might last. But it’s not the case that the length of the lockdown is something that is absolutely fixed.
“It depends on all of our behaviour. If we follow the guidelines, we can deal more effectively with the spread of the disease.”
Mr Gove also said the government will implement stronger rules if needed.
He said current government rules are being led by the scientific models plotting the spread of the virus and said it would not help preparations to pre-empt them before we need to.
Mr Gove later said the public must prepare for “a significant period” of lockdown while talking to Andrew Marr.
Former chief scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport echoed the importance of social distancing measures, telling Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “The science advice is actually absolutely rock solid worldwide – that the best way out of this is to keep people apart from each other, which is why the advice of stay at home is so critically important.
“In other words, the one thing we know is that you need to reduce the number of people that one infected person infects on average, which is about three, for this virus, we think, down to below one. And the only way you do that is by separating people.”
Disease expert Professor Neil Ferguson, from Imperial College London, has said lockdown measures could stay in place until June in order to gain control of the virus.
The government’s leading epidemiology adviser also says that once the lockdown is over, people will still need to practise social distancing for many more months to avoid a resurgence.
Prof Ferguson told the Sunday Times: “We’re going to have to keep these measures [the full lockdown] in place, in my view, for a significant period of time – probably until the end of May, maybe even early June. May is optimistic.”
That would mean Britain’s entire population staying at home for nearly three months.
Looking ahead to a time post-lockdown, Professor Ferguson said follow-up safety measures could mean schools and universities staying closed until the autumn, and people continuing to work from home rather than return to their offices.
Ex-chief scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport also told Sky News that it’s possible the UK may stop and start lockdown measures in response to the spread of the virus.
Sir Mark said: “Of course, everyone’s looking very carefully at China and Korea. China was obviously, sadly, ahead of everyone else in this in terms of the timing of the epidemic, the disease emerged in Wuhan.
“They’ve clamped down very hard and I think everyone around the world who understands the epidemiology is looking to see whether the outbreak does start again.”
Meanwhile, the government has been more optimistic in their lockdown estimate, with Boris Johnson telling the nation last week that he thinks we can “turn the tide” within three months.
However, in a letter to be sent to every household in the UK next week, Johnson warns that “things will get worse before they get better”.
Referencing the current “national emergency”, he says: “It is with that great British spirit that we will beat the coronavirus and we will beat it together.”
The prime minister is currently self-isolating in his Westminster flat after testing positive for COVID-19. He is understood to be experiencing only mild symptoms and is working from home.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Scottish Secretary Alister Jack are also in self-isolation with COVID-19 symptoms.
An Imperial College London study suggested the UK could be on course for 5,700 deaths if it follows the same trajectory as China.
NHS England’s national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said earlier this month it would be a “good result” if the toll in the UK was less than 20,000.
The number of people to have died with coronavirus in UK hospitals has now surged past 1,000.
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Govt says lockdown depends on behaviour but expert says it should last until June
