Downing Street remains confident England’s roadmap out of lockdown will remain unimpeded by the third wave of coronavirus engulfing the continent.
Yesterday Boris Johnson warned the fresh surge in the EU could “wash upon our shores”.
But thanks to the fast rollout of coronavirus vaccines in the UK, the return to normality is unlikely to be impacted.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said this afternoon: “We’ve seen throughout this pandemic it’s been the case we’ve seen infection rates rise on the continent and that has had an impact previously on infection rates here in the UK.
“As we’ve said, we expect and we have expected rates to rise as we come out of lockdown, that’s why we’ve been clear that moving too fast too soon through the road map risks a resurgence in infections and hospitalisations.
“That’s why we outlined a cautious and hopefully irreversible road map.”
Hailing the inoculation programme as Britain’s escape for facing a fresh lockdown, the official added: “This time we have as a defence our very extensive vaccination programme.
“We remain on course for the individual steps in the road map, that hasn’t changed.”
His comments come as Italy, France and Germany have all plunged areas back into lockdown this week due to a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Th take up of injections on the continent has been far lower than in the UK, with the rollout of Covid vaccines much criticised for being too slow.
More to follow…
