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At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman sought to clarify what Boris Johnson said this morning about how the government would be looking at the “potential of relaxing some measures” before mid-February (see 11.49am). The spokesman said Johnson was just referring to the government’s previously-stated intention to review lockdown measures at that point. He said:
The prime minister was just making clear that … we continue to look at the latest evidence in terms of the transmission of the virus, the number of people hospitalised, and the number of people who sadly go on to die.
And he was making the point that ahead of February 15, which as you know is the review point, we will look at that evidence closely, and that will inform what we may or may not be able to ease from the 15th onwards.
It is a matter for the chancellor, but again I would point to the support that we have provided to people on low incomes and those who are the most vulnerable in society throughout the pandemic.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said there are “cautious grounds” for believing the current Covid outbreak is subsiding after reporting 752 new cases detected in the last 24 hours.
She said there were 2,016 people in hospital, an increase of six, and a fall of six in the number in intensive care patients, down to 151. There had been four deaths of people with confirmed Covid infections overnight – a figure likely to be low due to lower registrations on a Sunday, with a total of 81 since Friday.
We think we may have cautious grounds for optimism that admissions to hospital are beginning to tail off slightly.
Read the original article at The Guardian