Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that he does not want a second lockdown any more than he wants to use Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent.
He said that authorities are getting better in identifying cases and containing local outbreaks, and it is important that action to order a national action is held in reserve.
Johnson told The Sunday Telegraph, “I can’t abandon that tool any more than I would abandon a nuclear deterrent. But it is like a nuclear deterrent, I certainly don’t want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again.”
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned on Friday there was “a risk” national measures may be required as winter approaches, and Johnson’s comments could cause further tensions between MPs.
Johnson told the Telegraph, “It’s not just that we’re getting much better at spotting the disease and isolating it locally, but we understand far more which groups it affects, how it works, how it’s transmitted, so the possibility of different types of segmentation, of enhanced shielding for particular groups, is now there.”
“We’re genuinely able now to look at what’s happening in much closer to real time, to isolate outbreaks and to address them on the spot, and to work with local authorities to contain the problem locally and regionally if we have to.”
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