UK Minister Denies Claims Government Plans Another National Lockdown

Muhammad Irfan Published September 17, 2020 | 01:57 PM

UK minister of state for health Edward Argar denied on Thursday claims that the government is planning to implement a two-week national lockdown following a spike in coronavirus cases across several regions of the United Kingdom

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2020) UK minister of state for health Edward Argar denied on Thursday claims that the government is planning to implement a two-week national lockdown following a spike in coronavirus cases across several regions of the United Kingdom.

"It's not something that I've heard about, I know there's speculation in the press today, but it's not something I've seen within the department," Argar told Sky news broadcaster.

Rumors about a fresh lockdown were sparked by a tweet posted by a former director at the World Health Organization, Anthony Costello, saying that England's Public Health chief, Chris Whitty, was advising prime minister Boris Johnson to impose the restriction.

"I'm hearing from a well-connected person that government now thinks, in absence of testing, there are 38,000 infections per day. Chris Whitty is advising PM for a two week national lockdown," Costello wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet published on Thursday morning, Costello said, however, that he was "pleased to correct the record" because "another insider" has told him that Whitty "does not support a 2 week lockdown."

The idea of imposing another full lockdown after the UK has seen COVID-19 cases growing almost exponentially in the last few weeks was also dismissed by the prime minister on Wednesday

"I don't want a second national lockdown, I think it would be completely wrong for this country," Johnson told a parliamentary committee.

He said a restriction similar to the one imposed from March to May would have disastrous consequences for the economy, so his government will do everything in its power to prevent it.

The UK records 374,228 cases of the novel coronavirus and 41,664 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic began.