Current lockdown measures in England could continue beyond their planned end date of 2 December, health secretary Matt Hancock has suggested.
Mr Hancock said it was “too early” to determine whether the restrictions, including the closure of pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops, can be lifted on the planned date.
His comments were far more pessimistic than projections made by Boris Johnson, who has previously told MPs that he has “no doubt” that the restrictions will be eased after the planned four-week second lockdown.
The prime minister has made clear that he wants England to return to a system of regional tiers after 2 December, with different areas following rules of varying stringency depending on the local prevalence of the virus.
He has promised MPs a vote on future arrangements in the week before the planned conclusion of the lockdown.
When the current arrangements were introduced at the start of this month, Mr Johnson told MPs: “I have no doubt that we can and that we will be able to go forward from 2 December with a very different approach.”
But asked by BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter Nick Robinson whether lockdown would in fact end on the planned date or whether large parts of the country would have to continue with the same restrictions under a “rebadged” scheme, Mr Hancock was far less emphatic.
“You tempt me, Nick,” said Mr Hancock. “But it is it is too early to say, I’m afraid.
“We’ve seen in the last week that there is still a very high number of cases.
“But we do absolutely want to come out of this national lockdown. That is our goal.
“Everybody has a part to play in making that happen, of course, following the social distancing rules and – the critical thing – isolating if you need to.
He said one of the main goals now was to use the mass rapid testing roll-out to find those who are asymptomatic with the virus.
Mr Johnson’s official spokesman later said that the current lockdown restrictions expire automatically on 2 December, and will be replaced by new measures for England to be tabled by the government next week and voted on by MPs.
Challenged over whether it was possible that the new regime could see all or most of England remain under lockdown-style restrictions, the PM’s spokesman said: “In terms of which parts of the country are placed under which kinds of restrictions, that will be based upon the localised data.”
