Boris Johnson warns Covid measures could get 'tougher' but says schools are 'safe'

PRIME minister Boris Johnson has said Covid-19 restrictions could get ‘tougher in many parts of the country’ in the coming weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves BBC New Broadcasting House in central London following his appearance on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA WirePrime Minister Boris Johnson leaves BBC New Broadcasting House in central London following his appearance on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire
Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves BBC New Broadcasting House in central London following his appearance on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show. Picture: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Johnson indicated tougher restrictions may be introduced, and said: ‘It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country.

‘I’m fully, fully reconciled to that.’

It comes as parents in Portsmouth were divided over education secretary Gavin Williamson’s insistence on keeping primary schools open outside of London.

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Portsmouth teacher Amanda Martin, president of the National Education Union, wants primaries to remain shut.

Mr Johnson added: ‘There are obviously a range of tougher measures that that we would have to consider… I’m not going to speculate now about what they would be, but I’m sure that all our viewers and our listeners will understand what the sort of things… clearly school closures, which we had to do in March is one of those things.’

Mr Johnson said that we must be ‘humble’ in the face of the new Covid-19 variant.

Schools are safe’

Asked what his message was to councils in England who have said that their schools should close, he said: ‘My message to such councils is that they should be guided by the public health advice, which at the moment is that schools are safe in those areas where we’re not being driven by the new variant to close them.

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‘That the priority has got to be children’s education but obviously we want to work with them. I mean we’ve got to be humble in the face of the impact of this new variant of the virus.

‘Let’s face it, we face a very difficult few weeks and months until the vaccine comes on-stream.’

Asked if primary schools would be closed if the situation did not improve in tier four areas, Mr Johnson said: ‘We have got to keep things under constant review.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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