Transcript of PM's press conference speech
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Good afternoon, Two weeks ago, I updated you from this podium on
the progress we had made as a country against coronavirus. And in
many ways that progress continues. The number of patients admitted
to hospitals is still falling, and now stands at just over 100 each
day. In April there were more than 3,000 coronavirus patients in
mechanical ventilation beds, but now the latest figure is 87. The
number of deaths continues to fall. That is...Request free trial
Good afternoon,
Two weeks ago, I updated you
from this podium on the progress we had made as a country against
coronavirus.
And in many ways that progress
continues.
The number of patients admitted
to hospitals is still falling, and now stands at just over 100
each day.
In April there were more than
3,000 coronavirus patients in mechanical ventilation beds, but
now the latest figure is 87.
The number of deaths continues
to fall. That is obviously encouraging.
But I have also consistently
warned that this virus could come back and that we would not
hesitate to take swift and decisive action as required.
I am afraid that in parts of
Asia and Latin America the virus is now gathering pace. And our
European friends are also struggling to keep the virus under
control.
As we see these rises around
the world, we cannot fool ourselves that we are exempt. We must
be willing to react to the first signs of trouble.
Today, the weekly survey by the
Office for National Statistics reports that the prevalence of the
virus in the community in England is likely to be rising for the
first time since May.
Around 1 in 1,500 now have the
virus, compared to 1 in 1,800 on 15 July and 1 in 2,000 on 2
July. The ONS also estimate there are now 4,900 new infections
every day, up from around 3,000 per day on 14 July and 2,000 per
day at the end of June.
We can’t afford to ignore this
evidence.
It’s vital to stress that we
are in a far better position to keep the virus under control now
than we were at the start of the pandemic – because we know so
much more about the virus and have so many more tools at our
disposal to deal with it.
Our testing capacity has
increased 100-fold.
We have a contact tracing
system up and running which has led to over 184,000 people
isolating who may otherwise have spread the virus and is capable
of tracing thousands of contacts every day.
We have secured supplies of
billions of items of PPE to withstand new demands on hospitals
and care homes.
And of course we have new
treatments, like dexamethasone and remdesivir, to shorten
recovery times and reduce mortality rates.
But as I say, we cannot be
complacent. I cannot – I won’t stand by and allow the virus to
cause more pain and heartache in this country.
Last night the Health Secretary
announced new restrictions on household contact in the North West
– specifically Greater Manchester, and parts of East Lancashire
and West Yorkshire.
These are targeted measures on
social contact between households, which the data tells us is
driving the current increase in cases. Businesses and workplaces
should continue as before in those areas.I know how it is hard to
have restrictions like this imposed on seeing your family and
your friends. But we have to act rapidly in order to protect
those we love.
And we know this sort of
intervention works – measures taken in Leicester and Luton have
suppressed the virus, allowing us to relax measures.
Even as we act locally, it is
also my responsibility to look again at the measures we have in
place nationally in light of the data we are seeing about
incidence.
At every point I have said our
plan to reopen society and the economy is conditional – that it
relies on continued progress against the virus, and that we would
not hesitate to put on the brakes if required.
With those numbers creeping up,
our assessment is that we should now squeeze that brake pedal in
order to keep the virus under control.
On Saturday 1 August, you’ll
remember, we had hoped to reopen in England a number of higher
risk settings that had remained closed. Today, I am afraid we are
postponing these changes for at least a fortnight.
That means that, until 15
August at the earliest:
I know that the steps we are
taking will be a heavy blow to many people – to everyone whose
wedding plans have been disrupted, or who now cannot celebrate
Eid in the way they would wish, I am really, really sorry about
that. But we simply cannot take the risk.
We will of course study the
data carefully and move forward with our intention to open up as
soon as we possibly can.
Two weeks ago, I also said that
from tomorrow the government would give employers more discretion
over how employees can work safely – whether by continuing to
work from home or attending a Covid Secure workplace. We know
that employers have gone to huge lengths to make workplaces safe,
so that guidance remains unchanged.
We also said we would pause
shielding nationally from 1 August – based on clinical advice,
that national pause will proceed as planned, and our medical
experts will be explaining more about that decision later and
about shielding later today.
Most people in this country are
following the rules and doing their bit to control the virus. But
we must keep our discipline, we must be focused and we cannot be
complacent.
I have asked the Home Secretary
to work with the police and others to ensure the rules which are
already in place are properly enforced.
That means local authorities
acting to close down premises and cancel events which are not
following Covid Secure guidance.
And it means a greater police
presence to ensure face coverings are being worn where this is
required by law.
We will also extend the
requirement to wear a face covering to other indoor settings
where you are likely to come into contact with people you do not
normally meet, such as museums, galleries, cinemas and places of
worship.
We now recommend face coverings
are worn in these settings, and this will become enforceable in
law from 8 August.
At this stage, we are not
changing the rules on social contact nationally. I don’t want to
tell people to spend less time with their friends. But unless
people follow the rules and behave safely, we may need to go
further.
Two weeks ago, I said we would
hope for the best but plan for the worst.
And of course we continue to
hope for the best. The way to get there and to achieve that
optimum outcome is if we all follow the rules, wash our hands,
cover our faces, keep our distance – and get a test if we have
symptoms, so that NHS Test and Trace can keep the virus under
control.
This is how we will avoid a
return to full national lockdown.
We’ve made huge progress
together.
I know we are going succeed and
I know we are going to beat this – if each and every one of us
plays our part.
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