PM's statement to the Commons on Covid-19
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Mr Speaker, with permission, I will make a Statement on the roadmap
that will guide us cautiously but irreversibly – towards reclaiming
our freedoms while doing all we can to protect our people against
Covid. Today’s measures will apply in England, but we are working
closely with the Devolved Administrations who are setting out
similar plans. The threat remains substantial, with the numbers in
hospital only now beginning to fall below the peak of...Request free trial
Mr Speaker, with permission, I will make a
Statement on the roadmap that will guide us
towards reclaiming our freedoms while doing
all we can to protect our people against Covid.
Today’s measures will apply in
England,
but we are working closely with the Devolved
Administrations who are setting out similar plans.
The threat remains substantial, with the
numbers in hospital only now beginning to fall below the peak of
the first wave in April.
But we are able to take these steps because
of the resolve of the British public
and the extraordinary success of our NHS in
vaccinating more than 17.5 million people across the
UK.
The data so far suggests both vaccines are
effective against the dominant strains of Covid.
Public Health England has found that one
dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine reduces hospitalisations and
deaths by at least 75 per cent.
And early data suggests that the
Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine provides a good level of
protection,
though since we only started deploying this
vaccine last month, at this stage the size of its effect is less
certain.
But no vaccine can ever be 100 per cent
effective,
nor will everyone take them
up,
and like all viruses, Covid-19 will
mutate.
So, as the modelling released by SAGE today
shows, we cannot escape the fact that lifting lockdown will
result in more cases, more hospitalisations and sadly more
deaths.
This would happen whenever lockdown is
lifted, whether now or in six or nine months, because there will
always be some vulnerable people who are not protected by the
vaccine.
There is therefore no credible route to a
Zero Covid Britain or indeed a Zero Covid World
and we cannot persist indefinitely with
restrictions that debilitate our economy, our physical and mental
well-being, and the life-chances of our children.
And that is why it is so crucial that this
roadmap should be cautious but also irreversible.
We are setting out on what I hope and
believe is a one way road to freedom.
And this journey is made possible by the pace of the vaccination programme.
In England, everyone in the top four
priority groups was successfully offered a vaccine by the middle
of February.
We now aim to offer a first dose to all
those in groups 5 to 9 by 15 April,
and I am setting another stretching target:
to offer a first dose to every adult by the end of
July.
As more of us are inoculated, so the
protection afforded by the vaccines will gradually replace the
restrictions
and today’s roadmap sets out the principles
of that transition.
The level of infection is broadly similar
across England, so we will ease restrictions in all areas at the
same time.
The sequence will be driven by the evidence,
so outdoor activity will be prioritised as the best way to
restore freedoms while minimising the risk.
At every stage, our decisions will be led by
data not dates,
and subjected to four tests.
First, that the vaccine deployment programme
continues successfully;
second, that evidence shows vaccines are
sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and
deaths;
third, that infection rates do not risk a
surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure
on the NHS;
and fourth, that our assessment of the risks
is not fundamentally changed by new variants of Covid that cause
concern.
Before taking each step we will review the
data against these tests
and because it takes at least four weeks for
the data to reflect the impact of relaxations in
restrictions
there will be at least five weeks between
each step.
The Chief Medical Officer is clear that
moving any faster would mean acting before we know the impact of
each step,
which would increase the risk of us having
to reverse course and re-impose restrictions.
I won’t take that risk.
Step one will happen from 8 March, by which
time those in the top four priority groups will be benefiting
from the increased protection they receive from their first dose
of their vaccine.
Mr Speaker, all the evidence shows that
classrooms are the best places for our young people to
be.
That’s why I’ve always said that schools
would be the last to close and the first to reopen.
And based on our assessment of the current
data against the four tests,
I can tell the House that two weeks’ from
today pupils and students in all schools and further education
settings can safely return to face-to-face
teaching,
supported by twice-weekly testing of
secondary school and college pupils.
Families and childcare bubbles will also be
encouraged to get tested regularly.
Breakfast and afterschool clubs can also
re-open - and other children’s activities, including sport, can
restart where necessary to help parents to work.
Students on university courses requiring
practical teaching, specialist facilities or onsite assessments
will also return
but all others will need to continue
learning online, and we will review the options for when they can
return by the end of the Easter Holidays.
From 8 March, people will also be able to
meet one person from outside their household for outdoor
recreation – such as a coffee on a bench or a picnic in a park -
in addition to exercise.
But we are advising the Clinically Extremely
Vulnerable to shield at least until the end of
March.
Every care home resident will be able to
nominate a named visitor, able to see them regularly provided
they are tested and wear PPE.
And finally we will amend regulations to
enable a broader range of Covid-secure campaign activities for
local elections on 6 May.
As part of Step one, we will go further and
make limited changes on 29 March, when schools go on Easter
holidays.
It will become possible to meet in limited
numbers outdoors, where the risk is lower.
So the Rule of Six will return outdoors,
including in private gardens
and outdoor meetings of two households will
also be permitted on the same basis, so that families in
different circumstances can meet.
Outdoor sports facilities – such as tennis
and basketball courts, and open-air swimming pools – will be able
to reopen
and formally organised outdoor sports will
resume, subject to guidance.
From this point, 29 March, people will no
longer be legally required to stay at home
but many lockdown restrictions will
remain.
People should continue to work from home
where they can and minimise all travel wherever
possible.
Step two will begin at least five weeks
after the beginning of step one
and no earlier than 12 April, with an
announcement at least seven days in advance.
If analysis of the latest data against the
four tests requires a delay,
then this and subsequent steps will also be
delayed to maintain the five week gap.
In step two non-essential retail will
reopen, as will personal care including hairdressers I’m glad to
say, and nail salons.
Indoor leisure facilities such as gyms will
re-open, as will holiday-lets, but only for use by individuals or
household groups.
We will begin to re-open our pubs and
restaurants outdoors
and Hon Members will be relieved there will
be no curfew
and the Scotch Egg debate will be over
because there will be no requirement for alcohol to be
accompanied by a substantial meal.
Zoos, theme parks and drive-in cinemas will
re-open
as will public libraries and community
centres.
Step three will begin no earlier than 17
May.
Provided the data satisfies the four
tests,
most restrictions on meetings outdoors will
be lifted, subject to a limit of thirty.
And this is the point when you will be able
to see your friends and family indoors - subject to the Rule of
Six or the meeting of two households.
We will also reopen pubs and restaurants
indoors
along with cinemas and children’s play
areas,
hotels, hostels, and B&Bs.
Theatres and concert halls will open their
doors,
and the turnstiles of our sports stadia will
once again rotate
subject in all cases to capacity limits
depending on the size of the venue.
And we will pilot larger events using
enhanced testing, with the ambition of further easing of
restrictions in the next step.
Step 4 will begin no earlier than 21
June.
With appropriate mitigations, we will aim to
remove all legal limits on social contact,
and on weddings and other life
events.
We will re-open everything up to and
including nightclubs,
and enable large events such as theatre
performances above the limits of step 3, potentially using
testing to reduce the risk of infection.
Mr Speaker, our journey back towards
normality will be subject to resolving a number of key questions
and to do this we will conduct four reviews.
One will assess how long we need to maintain
social distancing and face masks.
This will also inform guidance on working
from home – which should continue wherever possible until this
review is complete.
And it will be critical in determining how
Parliament can safely return in a way that I know Hon Members
would wish.
A second review will consider the resumption
of international travel
which is vital for many businesses which
have been hardest hit
A successor to the Global Travel Taskforce
will report by 12 April so that people can plan for the
summer.
The third review will consider the potential
role of Covid-status certification in helping venues to open
safely
but mindful of the many concerns surrounding
exclusion, discrimination and privacy.
And the fourth review will look at the safe
return of major events.
Mr Speaker, as we proceed through these
steps we will benefit from the combined protection of our
vaccines and the continued expansion of rapid
testing.
We will extend the provision of free test
kits for workplaces until the end of June
and families, small businesses and the
self-employed can collect those tests from local testing
sites.
Mr Speaker, in view of these cautious but I
hope irreversible changes, people may be concerned about what
these changes mean for the various support packages, for
livelihoods for people and for the economy.
So I want to assure the House, we will not
pull the rug out.
For the duration of the pandemic, the
government will continue to do whatever it takes to protect jobs
and livelihoods across the UK.
And my Rt Hon Friend the Chancellor will set
out further details in the Budget next Wednesday,
Finally, Mr Speaker, we must remain alert to
the constant mutations of the virus.
Next month we will publish an updated plan
for responding to local outbreaks,
with a range of measures to address variants
of concern, including surge PCR testing and enhanced contact
tracing.
We can’t, I’m afraid, rule out re-imposing
restrictions at local or regional level if evidence suggests they
are necessary to contain or suppress a new variant which escapes
the vaccines.
Mr Speaker, I know there will be many people
who will be worried that we are being too ambitious and that it
is arrogant to impose any kind of plan upon a
virus.
And I agree that we must always be humble in
the face of nature and we must be cautious
but I really also believe that the
vaccination programme has dramatically changed the odds in our
favour and it is on that basis that we can now
proceed.
And of course there will be others who will
believe that we could go faster on the basis of that vaccination
programme
and I understand their feelings and I
sympathise very much with the exhaustion and the stress that
people are experiencing and that businesses are experiencing
after so long in lockdown.
But to them I say that today the end really
is in sight and a wretched year will give way to a spring and a
summer that will be very different and incomparably better than
the picture we see around us today.
And in that spirit, I commend this Statement
to the House
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