Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, has told MPs there is a “realistic possibility” that the lockdown for England can be eased after 2 December. Asked if the restrictions would definitely be lifted then, as planned by the government, Whitty said: The decision as to whether to lift restrictions on December 2 is rightly a decision for ministers and parliament. I think that the aim of this is to get the rates down far enough that it’s a realistic possibility to move into a different state of state of play at that point in time. But he also said he did not expect England to return to the exact tiering system in place now. He said: I think that the prime minister would probably want us to look at whether there should be variations on exactly the same tiering system as at the moment, rather than just assuming we would just revert to an absolutely identical one. I think there’s a lot to learn. And in fact, the next two or three weeks we will start to see the effects of the tiering in an even more granular way than we’ve got to date and I think we should wait until we got that before we start to decide how best to use that in future. Boris Johnson has told the cabinet that England’s lockdown restrictions will come to an end on 2 December, saying that was a hard deadline to develop a new solution to contain the spread of the virus. Students are defying government guidance that they should stay at university throughout lockdown to make a last-minute dash home before the new restrictions kick in across England on Thursday. England’s most senior faith leaders have challenged the government’s decision to ban communal worship during the second lockdown, telling Boris Johnson there is no scientific basis for the move. The number of people in the UK earning below the minimum wage has more than quadrupled to 2 million since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to official figures, as the lowest-paid workers in Britain suffer the most financial damage. Prof Tim Spector, who runs the Covid symptom study (CSS), has said his latest figures suggest coronavirus cases in England, Wales and Scotland are plateauing, with R, the reproduction number, now at about 1. The CSS monitors the spread of the virus through an app, with 4m downloads, which people use to report symptoms.
Ministers have prompted confusion over England’s new lockdown rules with Michael Gove apologising for incorrectly indicating tennis and golf could be played, as cabinet colleague Robert Jenrick apparently wrongly suggested a family would be allowed to meet a friend for a walk outside. The terrorism threat in the UK has been upgraded to severe in the aftermath of the terror attack in Vienna overnight and a string of violent incidents in France, the government has announced.