below one is if we get the r well below one is starts the half and we will end up ina much starts the half and we will end up in a much better position. but i don't think it is a situation where in four weeks' time everything will be back to normal again. there will still need to be some restrictions over the winter where the new measures coming in spring and the new measures, long but four weeks with a really good reduction of r would make a big difference. just on the period coming up, as it were, to december the 2nd, we will be looking very carefully at what is happening and that tiered areas and working out exactly which tier we will be in and which would be most appropriate as we come out of the stuff autumn measures. let's go to have it from the press association. what is your message to leaders in scotland, wales and northern ireland? de want them to follow your lead and introduce the same measures and if not a considering restrictions on

travel between the four nations? and for the site is, why are you confident that you won't need shielding this time around and is a danger that hospitals can still be overwhelmed despite these new restrictions? —— for the scientist, is there a danger that hospitals can still be overwhelmed. actually, the situation now is there is quite a large degree of congruence between the whole of the uk in the sense that northern ireland and wales had very similar arrangements already to the ones we are announcing tonight. scotland, as you know, has its five tier system which also involves some pretty stringent measures to deal with fundamentally the same problem that we have across the whole of the uk which actually we are dealing with in pretty much the same way that as you know every day there are co nsta nt that as you know every day there are constant discussions between the four cmos and certainly the political level, constant

conversations about how we're this together. —— how we are fighting this together. in terms of shielding, we are not suggesting that people who previously were on the shielding list, just over 2 million people on the shielding list, do not need to ta ke the shielding list, do not need to take extra precautions. we learnt a lot from the first time where the shielding programme, and some of the things worked and some things did not, so what we are not aiming to do is reproduce it. there were some practical problems and also the issue of people having significant problems of loneliness and feeling com pletely problems of loneliness and feeling completely cut off from society. what we are trying to do is avoid those downsides to shielding whilst reinforcing the message that for people who are particularly vulnerable, they do need to take even greater precautions than the general public. that brings us to be close. thank you very much, harriet. thank you everybody for watching.

just to repeat those three rays of sunshine of optimism from our scientific and medical advisor, rather than from me to stop the prospect of ever better drugs, dexamethasone, the realistic, though by no means certain, the realistic prospect of a vaccine, and then the hopes and confidence that we are now placing in rapid turnaround testing that we are rolling out across the country. in the meantime, we have to put in place these tougher measures. for now until the 2nd of december across the country, and it goes without saying, everybody do not forget the basics, do not forget hands, face, space. get a test if you have symptoms. thank you all very much. stay safe. the prime minister bringing to an end this latest downing street press briefing

in which he announced a national lockdown until december the 2nd. starting this thursday until december two in england. and chris is here now... a great deal they come across some of which we knew, but it still bears repeating. if you could go through exactly what has been announced and also anything that struck you in terms of the prime minister's tone. the most striking thing is that the prime minister has jumped the most striking thing is that the prime minister hasjumped to the most striking thing is that the prime minister has jumped to what the strategy has been for england over the last month or so, with the focus until now on a regional approach that recognised the variation in england. that is being abandoned because the prime minister said it was important to be, as he put it, humble in the face of nature. the presentation of the graphs that we saw from professor kristen back to and patrick vallance effectively made one point, the number of cases is going up significantly and going up across

the country. unless there was action pretty much immediately, the danger was that the nhs would be overwhelmed. another striking remark from mrjohnson saying there was a risk that for the first time in our lives, the nhs will not be there for us and our families. lives, the nhs will not be there for us and ourfamilies. but he lives, the nhs will not be there for us and our families. but he was conscious he was under no illusions as to how hard this will be for people. just to run through the key details now confirmed by the prime minister, from thursday, assuming that this is voted through in the commons, which it will be in the next couple of days, non—essential retail businesses, shops in other words, will be forced to close, as more pubs, bars and restaurants, except those offering takeaway services. crucially, unlike the lockdown in the spring, schools and universities will remain open. people will be allowed to meet one other person from outside their household in a public space outdoors. there will be no limit on

exercise time. in the spring, we we re exercise time. in the spring, we were told to go out to exercise for one hour and then get back home. there will be no limit on the exercise we allowed to do outdoors. we will be allowed to sit down on park benches, have a drink outside, that kind of thing. that is a little looser than it was in the spring. for people who were shielding, during that first lockdown and beyond, up until the summer, those who were deemed vulnerable or aged over 70 are being told to be especially careful following the rules and maintaining distance and hands, face, space. crucially, shielding measures will not be reintroduced as they were during the first part of the pandemic. one additional detail, crucially important to millions of people, the furlough scheme, the job important to millions of people, the furlough scheme, thejob retention scheme, which was due to end in a matter of hours, it was due to end at midnight, that is going to be extended throughout next month,

throughout november, covering this period in england. meaning that people will have 80% of their wages paid for by the taxpayer. so a great deal they are, chris. paid for by the taxpayer. so a great dealthey are, chris. no underestimating the gravity of the situation from the detail that we we re situation from the detail that we were given from the prime minister's advisors. they do remain many questions about the government strategy here. they do remain many questions about the government strategy here. there do. this is a wholesale change in what the government was originally planning to do. the prime minister said he would have to modulate his response. it is more than that. quite clearly it isa it is more than that. quite clearly it is a wholesale jumping of the previous strategy. he acknowledged that plenty of other countries around the world were following a similar model. the flip side is that england was looking increasingly isolated in its own response, given what we were seeing in wales, for instance, where there has been a lockdown for one week already. in france, germany, italy and

elsewhere. labour for the last couple of weeks have been calling for some kind of lockdown. they were advocating a circuit breaker modelled on what the scientists had advocated back in the middle of september. we learnt of that publicly earlier this month. ultimately, confronted by the data, it is no surprise that we heard from the two scientists before we had from the prime minister, the case was made for action before the prime minister set out the action that would, in his view, be necessary. given that there are 50,000 new cases a day at the moment, and that is rising, an estimated half a million people in england having coronavirus in the last week. that is around by i% of the population. one n 100 people. is around by 1% of the population. one n 100 people. confronted with those statistics and graphs, the government was left with no option. not least because their argument up until now was why act in, for instance, cornwall, because what effect is that have on a big

caseload in manchester? we have the a nswer caseload in manchester? we have the answer now. even in those areas where the case load is relatively low, given the exponential rise, hospital capacity could be very easily exceeded quite quickly unless pretty significant, severe, stringent measures were applied. that is what is going to happen in a matter of just a couple that is what is going to happen in a matter ofjust a couple of days. the hope we heard repeatedly is that this will be enough to allow people something approaching a normal christmas. we will have to see. many thanks. a reminder now of what the prime minister had to say earlier. he begins year by explaining that the government had no alternative than to call another lockdown. we will continue, as far as we possibly can to adopt a pragmatic and a local approach in the months ahead. but as we have also seen, from those charts, we have got to be humble in the face of nature. in this country,

alas, as across much of europe, the virus is spreading even faster than the reasonable worst case scenario of our scientific advisers. whose models, as you havejust of our scientific advisers. whose models, as you have just seen, of our scientific advisers. whose models, as you havejust seen, now suggest that unless we act, we could see deaths in this country running at several thousand a day, a peak of mortality, alas, bigger than the one we saw in april. as you have just seen, even in the south—west where incidents was so low, and still is so low, it is now clear though that the current projections mean that hospitals in the south—west will run out of capacity and just a matter of weeks. unless we act. let me explain why the overrunning of the nhs would bea why the overrunning of the nhs would be a medical and amoral disaster

beyond the raw loss of life. because the huge exponential growth in the number of patients by no means all of them elderly, by the way, would mean that doctors and nurses would be forced to choose which patients to treat, he would get oxygen and who would not, who would live and who would not, who would live and who would not, who would live and who would die. and doctors and nurses would be forced to choose between saving covid patients and non—covid patients, and the sheer weight of covid demand would mean depriving tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of non—covid patients of the care they need. it is crucial to grasp this, that the general threat to public health comes not from focusing too much on covid, but from not focusing enough, from failing to get it under control. if we let the

lines on those graphs grow in the way that they could, in the way that they are projected to grow, then the risk is that for the first time in our lives, the nhs will not be there for us and for our families. and evenif for us and for our families. and even if i could now double capacity overnight, and obviously i am proud that we have massively increased capacity, we do have the nightingales, 13,000 more nurses than we had last year, many more doctors. but it still would not be enough. the virus is doubling faster than we can conceivably add capacity, and so now is the time to ta ke capacity, and so now is the time to take action because there is no alternative. from thursday until the start of december, you must stay at home, you may only leave home for specific reasons, including education, work, if you cannot work

from home, exercise and recreation outdoors with your household or on your own, with one person from another household, for medical reasons, appointments, and to escape injury or harm, to shop for food and essentials, and to provide care for vulnerable people or as a volunteer. lam afraid vulnerable people or as a volunteer. i am afraid nonessential shops, leisure and entertainment venues will all be closed, though click and collect services can continue and the central shops will remain open so there is no need to stock up. pubs, bars and restaurants must close, except for takeaway and delivery services. workplaces should stay open where people cannot work from home. for example, in the construction and manufacturing sectors. single adult households can still form exclusive support bubbles with one other household, and children will still be able to move

between homes if their parents are separated. if you are clinically vulnerable or over 60, you should be especially careful to follow the rules and minimise contact with others. i know how tough shielding was and we will not ask people to shield again in the same way, but we are asking those who are clinically extremely vulnerable to minimise their contact with others and not to go to work if they are unable to work from home. i am under no illusions about how difficult this will be for businesses which have already had to endure such hardship this year. i am truly sorry for that. that is why we are going to extend the furlough system through november, the furlough scheme was a success in the spirit, it supported people in a critical time, we will not end it, we will extend furlough until december. that was the prime minister speaking a short

time ago. which reminds you of the announcements that were made. a four—week lockdown lockd own starts lockdown starts on thursday. bars and restaurants will close, but takeaways can continue to operate — as in the spring lockdown. non—essential retail and hospitality will be forced to close — supermarkets will stay open households will not be allowed to mix inside, unless for child care reasons schools and universities will be allowed to stay open. the government chief scientific adviser, sir patrick vallance, said that there is currently a very grim picture of what the next six weeks look like. this shows the hospital daily admissions. you can see the first peak on the left—hand side, and then

over