Former NHS chief predicts total UK coronavirus lockdown THIS WEEK as nation battles crisis
CORONAVIRUS measures issued by the Government may turn into a complete lockdown as soon as the middle of this week as Britons struggle to comply with Boris Johnson's team's advice.
Coronavirus: ‘This week we will be in total lockdown’ says expert
Former NHS Trust chairman Rory Lilley told TalkRADIO he expects the UK to be in total lockdown by the middle of this week to help combat the spreading of coronavirus in the country. The health policy analyst argued as Britons continue to defy the advice of Boris Johnson's Government to stay at home, with COVID-19 rapidly spreading through the country, the Prime Minister might soon be forced to order a lockdown to save the NHS.
Mr Lilley said: “We’ve gone through these various stages.
“I expect by the middle of this week that we will be in total lockdown.
“I think there is a political decision but it will be a decision that will be driven by the science and all the scientists that we need to do this lockdown.
“So we’ve gone through various stages and a lot of people would certainly say that we’ve taken too long to go through these stages and we should have gone to a more comprehensive lockdown from day one.
“But whether we should or we shouldn’t, we are where we are and I suspect that’s what’s going to happen.”
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It comes as Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted police officers may be given the power to enforce such a lockdown in the UK.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Mr Hancock said: “This isn’t the sort of thing I ever wanted to do but it’s the sort of thing that, as a nation, we’ve got to be prepared to see in order to stop this virus.
“These are unpleasant and very difficult times and I keep in the front of my mind the 1.4 million people who work for the NHS.
“Because they’re going into hospitals, into the NHS to look after people, including to care for people who have coronavirus, and we’ve got to keep them safe.
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“And the best way to keep them safe is, of course, to stop the spread of the disease.
“So I feel a deep responsibility towards looking out for them and making sure that the NHS is protected.
“And that does require some quite significant effort like giving police the powers.”
The Health Secretary said it was selfish of people to continue to socialise as the NHS battles to tackle the coronavirus epidemic.
Asked why people were ignoring the advice for social distancing, the Cabinet minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't know because it is very selfish.
"The NHS is doing everything it can and preparing for the spread of this virus.
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"If people go within two metres of others who they don't live with, then they are helping to spread the virus and the consequence of that costs lives and it means, for everyone, this will go on for longer.
"Until we get a grip on the spread of this virus with the kinds of measures we have taken, then we can't start to get our way out of it as a country."
Today, the House of Commons will debate the Coronavirus Bill in all its stages in order to give the Government added powers to stop the outbreak of the COVID-19.
The Bill will be enshrined into law later this week and will allow such measures as closing ports and airports.
The Government has also sent out 1.5 million letters to the elderly and those who are vulnerable to the virus.
The letters ordered those groups to remain at home as part of a "shielding" process to protect them from the rest of the public.