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Wednesday, 20 October 2021 (YJC)_UK Health secretary says ‘pandemic is not over’ but confirms UK will not implement its ‘plan B’ measures just now.
Politicians have a responsibility to set an example in the battle against Covid, including wearing masks in crowded spaces, Sajid Javid has suggested as he predicted new infections could hit a record 100,000 a day.
With the government under mounting pressure to impose measures to control the virus, Javid warned “this pandemic is not over” and insisted he would do “what it takes” to protect the health service. But he said: “We don’t believe that the pressures currently faced by the NHS are unsustainable.”
Javid urged millions of eligible people to come forward for booster jabs, saying this was key for people being able to “keep their freedoms”, but declined to say how high infection or hospitalisation rates would need to reach before measures are reimposed.
He was pressed on the risks of mixed messages, with most Conservative MPs declining to wear masks in the House of Commons or in packed cabinet meetings, and the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, encouraging the public to book Christmas parties.
Javid conceded that this was an issue. “I think that is a very fair point. As I say, we’ve all got our role to play in this,” he told a Downing Street press conference alongside Jenny Harries, head of the new UK Health Security Agency, and Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England.
Javid said: “We, the people standing on this stage, we play … our public roles as secretary state, as someone from the NHS, as the head of UKHSA. But we also have a role to play in setting an example as private individuals as well, and I think that’s a very fair point, and I’m sure a lot of people will have heard you.”
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