Boris Johnson has warned the effects of a third wave of coronavirus will “wash up on our shores” from Europe.
The PM said: "On the continent right now you can see, sadly, there is a third wave under way.
“And people in this country should be under no illusions that previous experience has taught us that when a wave hits our friends, I’m afraid it washes up on our shores as well.”
He added: “I expect we will feel those effects in due course. That’s why we’re getting on with our vaccination programme as fast as we can.”
If it happens, I would see it more as a Fourth Wave in the UK … :shock:
But why any wave should “wash up our shores”, when, supposedly, the government has the pandemic under control, is a mystery …
Maybe it’s a reference to those who to seems regularly finish up illegally ‘washed up on our shores’ in various ways and from various countries. I doubt they will have been either checked for or vaccinated against coronavirus. Some may be apprehended but how many are not?
Oh for goodness sake…I’m so fed up of Boris’s fear mongering. What else are we supposed to do? Maybe if he actually did something, then we wouldn’t have any bloomin’ waves crashing upon our shores! If I were him, I would make sure that everyone took a test from their home country before travelling, do another one upon arrival to here, and THEN if they were clear, be free to go. If the unfortunate travellers arrived here and tested positive, then they should be automatically quarantined (funded partially by them, partially by their country of origin) until they test negative.
Yes, I did realise it was more a ‘play on words’, however it’s a serious comment I made about those who are ‘washed up on our shores’. How many ‘illegals’ are not apprehended and go on to disappear into the ‘black economy’, possibly spreading coronavirus if they themselves are infected and nobody knows either way if that is the case or not.
‘Churchillian’, possibly but when he was prime minister for two terms in 1940–45 and 1951–55 I was a real ‘youngster’ during the first term and still one during the second. Following those years I was too busy with an apprenticeship, then married with two children to support, to be much interested in politics. Life was also much simpler in those days too, including politics.
Boris Johnson admits regrets over handling of first Covid wave
Boris Johnson has admitted there are many things he wishes he had done differently to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic as the UK marks a year since the first lockdown and remembers the 126,000 people who have died so far.
At a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister once again refused to commit to a public inquiry to look at the decisions taken by the government over the last year. Rebuffing calls for an inquiry, he said lessons would be learned at the right time. He did announce there would be “a fitting and a permanent memorial to the loved ones we have lost and to commemorate this whole period”.
Boris Johnson spent a wide-ranging 90 minutes in front of the committee f.
On coronavirus, he claimed the government had worked closely with local authorities throughout the pandemic, despite criticisms of being late to link up.
That’s an outright lie - there were numerous complaints from councils about exclusion from the planning process but inclusion in the implementation process (without provision of the necessary cash or equipment) which were well-publicised in the press.
More from Boris Johnson who was speaking at the Conservatives’ virtual spring forum.
The prime minister said “bitter experience” has taught him that the surge in cases - or “third wave” - currently being experienced in parts of Europe could hit the UK “three weeks later”.
“The question is - is it going to be, this time, as bad it has been in the past? Or have we sufficiently mitigated, muffled, blunted the impact by the vaccine rollout?” he added. There’s lots of promising evidence that a lot of people who could be vulnerable are now protected against death and serious disease, that’s my hope - my hunch. But we haven’t yet seen the real conclusive proof - in the sense that we haven’t seen a take-off in infection rates that hasn’t been accompanied by a lot of hospitalisations and deaths. That’ll be the key difference this time round, if we’re lucky."
Boris Johnson says new French Covid wave is ‘very sad’ and warns the UK has ‘got to be ready’ for it to arrive here within weeks
French president Emmanuel Macron last night blamed the ‘British variant’ for creating ‘a pandemic within a pandemic’ as he finally bowed to weeks of pressure from medics and epidemiologists to impose four weeks of new restrictions.
In a televised address, the 43-year-old conceded somberly that ‘the epidemic is accelerating, and we are likely to lose control,’ as he ordered people to remain inside their homes and children to stop going to school.
But speaking to staff at medical manufacturer Hart Biologicals, on a visit to Teesside ahead of the Hartlepool by-election, Mr Johnson said: ‘I’m afraid you can see what’s happening in France. It’s very sad actually - it’s very very sad. When they get it in France and they get it bad, two or three weeks later it comes to us … we’ve got to be ready for that.’
France has recorded an average of 38,000 new Covid cases each day over the last week - the highest figure on the continent. Its infection rate is at 70 per cent of where it was at the peak of cases it saw in November.
In contrast Britain’s daily coronavirus cases have dropped by a third in a week and deaths are continuing to fall, official data revealed today as a catalogue of statistics showed England’s outbreak is still shrinking.
Mr Macron was savaged in parliament today by opposition MPs across the house who accused him of Napoleonic arrogance and acting too slowly amid the worst infection rate in Europe.
Obviously, BJ is hedging his bets - if there’s a post-Easter “surge” then he can blame France, just as France is blaming “Britain” for the France becoming the new “England” at the top of the infections league … c’est la guerre …
Not if we keep having lockdowns and vaccines.
It needs to work it’s way through the population Pixie, so that people will build a resistance to it. Vaccines don’t last long enough, hence the expected third wave.
There will be many deaths, but it’s the only way, otherwise it will always be waiting in the wings. As well as vaccines having a limited life of protection, they also weaken the immune system against other infections and illnesses.
As depressing as it obviously is, this news item from England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, sounds as if it’s going to be up to two years before we can really relax from what the coronavirus virus is capable of:
[I]"Coronavirus safety measures are likely to still be necessary for another two years, England’s chief medical officer has said.
Professor Chris Whitty said it could take up to two years for the world to build up a bank of vaccines and technologies capable of rapidly dealing with COVID-19 variants and outbreaks."[/I]
Boris Johnson warns a third wave of Covid infections will hit the UK this year
Boris Johnson has launched a new drive to identify simple treatments for coronavirus, amid warnings that a third wave of cases could hit the UK. The Prime Minister insisted the “path to freedom” remained open, with nothing in the figures to suggest a deviation from the road map out of lockdown. But as he launched a new taskforce to identify antiviral treatments, Mr Johnson acknowledged soaring cases overseas and warnings from scientists that there will be another wave this year.
At a Downing Street press conference he said: “As we look at what is happening in other countries, with cases now at record numbers around the world, we cannot delude ourselves that Covid has gone away. I see nothing in the data now that makes me think we are going to have to deviate in any way from the road map - cautious but irreversible - that we have set out. But the majority of scientific opinion in this country is still firmly of the view that there will be another wave of Covid at some stage this year. And so we must, as far as possible, learn to live with this disease as we live with other diseases.”
The antiviral taskforce will seek out new medicines to “stop the virus in its tracks”, hopefully producing simple treatments that can be taken at home. It is hoped that antivirals could help to reduce infections and limit the impact of any new variants. They may also help to protect people who cannot take vaccines or those who are not fully protected after having the jab.
Covid: Government scientist warns of summer surge in cases
Prof Adam Finn, of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, says modelling points to a rise in cases, as many adults are not immunised. He said the UK was still “vulnerable” and the dates for easing restrictions may need adjusting.
More than 10 million people in the UK have had two doses of the vaccine. It means more than 19% of UK adults are fully vaccinated.
Prof Finn, from the University of Bristol, told BBC Breakfast “The models that we’ve seen on JCVI clearly point to a summer surge in cases as the lockdown is relaxed, because there are still many people in the adult population who’ve not been immunised. The sense that the problem is all over, I’m afraid is a flawed one, we’re still in a vulnerable situation, and there are still significant numbers of people who potentially could be harmed by this infection if this happens.”
