Boris Johnson says this must be the last lockdown but warns infections must be ‘really low’

Boris Johnson was accused of shifting the goalposts again on lockdown after he said that infection rates must fall to ‘really, really low’ levels before restrictions could be lifted.

The Prime Minister had previously said that the level of Covid deaths, vaccine rollout, new variants and pressure on hospital beds were the main determinants.

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, the PM said he said: ‘We want this lockdown to be the last. And we want progress to be cautious, but also irreversible.’

Boris Johnson was accused of shifting the goalposts again on lockdown after he said that infection rates must fall to ‘really, really low’ levels before restrictions could be lifted after previously stating the level of Covid deaths, vaccine rollout, new variants and pressure on hospital beds were the main determinants

But earlier he said his ‘prudent’ road map required ‘really, really low’ numbers of new cases for the permanent rolling back of curbs. 

And even as the number of new cases fell to its lowest level since early October, he warned that the easing of lockdown could be delayed if there is a resurgence.

While he said he could not give a ‘cast-iron guarantee’ that this would be the final lockdown, he stressed his belief that science was ‘in the ascendancy’.

Asked about his plans to lift restrictions on a visit to a vaccination clinic in south London yesterday, Mr Johnson told Sky News: ‘We will want to see those rates really, really low. Because the risk is if you have a large volume of circulation, if you’ve got loads of people, even young people, getting the disease a couple of things happen.

‘First you have a higher risk of new variants, of mutations. Secondly there will also be a greater risk of the disease spreading out into the older groups again.

‘No vaccination programme is 100 per cent effective, so when you have a large volume circulating, inevitably, the vulnerable will suffer. So that’s why we want to drive it right down, keep it right down.’

Speaking about next Monday’s announcement of his ‘road map’ for relaxing lockdown measures, Mr Johnson added: ‘The dates we will be setting out will be the dates by which we hope we can do something at the earliest. It’s the target date.

‘If, because of the rate of infection, we have to delay for a little bit, we won’t hesitate.’

But the PM faced criticism from his backbenchers for including a low infection rate among the criteria for lockdown to be lifted.

When he announced the current lockdown on January 4, he had only said he hoped ‘we can steadily move out of lockdown’ if ‘our understanding of the virus doesn’t change dramatically again’, ‘if the rollout of the vaccine continues to be successful’, ‘if deaths start to fall as the vaccine takes effect’, and ‘if everyone plays their part by following the rules’.

At the end of January, he said the plan would ‘depend on the continued success of our vaccination programme, the capacity of the NHS, and on deaths falling at the pace we would expect’. 

Just last week Health Secretary Matt Hancock was asked in the Commons if ‘the level of virus in circulation’ would be used to determine when lockdown can be lifted and replied: ‘No.’

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The PM (pictured at an Orpington vaccination hub today) faced criticism from his backbenchers for including a low infection rate among the criteria for lockdown to be lifted

He said there were only four conditions – understood to be progress in dealing with deaths, hospital admissions, new variants and the successful rollout of the vaccine.

Yesterday there were 230 deaths reported, the lowest since Boxing Day, hospital admissions have fallen 25 per cent in a week and more than 15million people have had their first dose of vaccine.

Last night Tory backbencher Sir Robert Syms said: ‘We keep getting mission creep. The risk the Government has is public opinion starts to change – people will say “I’ve had my jabs, why can’t I go to the pub?”’

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: ‘I think the Prime Minister has got too risk-averse, which is just as dangerous as being too optimistic.’

Philip Davies, another of the 63 Tory MPs who backed the Covid Recovery Group plan to lift all restrictions by the end of April, said: ‘If the Prime Minister and his scientific advisers think the public are going to sit around and wait for us to have no infections, they’re in cloud-cuckoo land.’