Boris Johnson Covid-19 announcement: When is it? Will there be another lockdown?

A press conference is expected to go ahead on Tuesday which will see Mr Johnson underline how vaccinations will be a central part of responding to coronavirus in the coming months.

Downing Street said chief medical adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty will both join Boris Johnson in the press briefing.

Will another UK lockdown happen in October?

When asked if he was in favour of a further lockdown, Sir Keir Starmer has said he would urge people to continue using “practical measures” such as wearing face masks in order to prevent the spread of the virus, according to PA.

He said: “Nobody wants a further lockdown because it has a huge impact on people’s lives, and of course it impacts on the economy and businesses.

“The best way to ensure we don’t have that further lockdown is to go cautiously and to continue with practical measure like masks on public transport and enclosed spaces.

“Nobody likes wearing masks in those situations.

“But it’s a small step to protect ourselves and protect other people.”

The Prime Minister didn’t give much away regarding a winter lockdown ahead of Tuesday’s announcement.

Speaking on a visit to Leicester on Monday, Boris Johnson said: “We’ve got to do everything that’s right to protect the country.

“But the way things are going at the moment we’re very confident in the steps that we’ve taken.

“I’ll be setting out a lot more tomorrow.

“I’ll be giving a full update on the plans.”

Visiting a British Gas training academy with Chancellor Rishi Sunak on Monday, Mr Johnson added: “I just wouldn’t want you to jump to any conclusions – wait and see what we say tomorrow.”

When asked about the prospect of vaccinations for 12 to 15-year-olds, the Prime Minister said: “I think you should really wait and see, wait for what the chief medical officers have to say.

“It’s for them to decide.

“Much better, I think, for them to put out their views, rather than politicians.”

He added that booster jabs for adults were “going ahead” and had “already been approved.”

No 10 said another winter lockdown would only be considered as a “last resort.”

Reporters asked the Prime Minister’s official spokesman if a lockdown would be arranged if Covid-19 cases continued to rise and he said: “We are in a very different place than where we were previously when other lockdowns were introduced, thanks to the success of our vaccine programme and other things like therapeutics treatments for coronavirus.

“We would only ever consider those sort of measures as a last resort and we will set out in more detail tomorrow what our approach will be should we see a significant increase in cases.

“It is thanks to the fences built up through our vaccine programme that we are in a very different position and we are not seeing the sort of substantial increases that some feared once we moved to Step 4 of our road map.”

Will regional lockdowns take place?

Regional lockdowns could be more likely as Downing Street said there was “no question” of having to introduce them on current Covid-19 levels, according to PA.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We are not seeing anything that suggests our NHS is about to be overwhelmed so there is no question of using those measures at the moment.”

Downing Street also defended the U-turn over the mandatory use of Covid passports.

“We keep all plans under review and no final policy decision was taken,” the spokesman said.

“The latest data suggests we can continue with our current system of defence which leads with vaccines, testing, public health advice and variant surveillance.”

Certification will be kept “as a potential option as needed”, the spokesman said.

Update on the Coronavirus Act

According to PA, Downing Street said it would be up to the office of Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to decide when a vote might be held on extending powers in the Coronavirus Act.

Parliament is due to break in two weeks for its conference season recess, meaning there is limited time to hold a vote.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman, asked about vote timings, said: “We’ve already said we believe we’ll be in position to remove a number of restrictions – the Prime Minister will set that out in more detail tomorrow.

“I think that’s the right time to talk about what comes next.

“It would be a matter for the Leader’s office in terms of exact times.”

Pressed on whether the Government still intended to extend the powers, the spokesman said: “Yes. It is important to be clear that the Act itself enables some very important things such as sick pay being able to be paid under these current circumstances.

“It is right that we retain measures that are still needed and remove measures that aren’t.”

Covid vaccine order cancelled: What it means

The UK Government has given notice of ending the contract it has with Valneva, a Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer, over allegations of a breach of the agreement, the company said.

The firm which manufactures the vaccine in Livingston, West Lothian, in Scotland said it “strenuously” denies the allegations, according to PA.

In a statement, the French biotech company, said: “Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, today announced that it has received a termination notice from the UK Government (“HMG”) in relation to the Supply Agreement for its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001. The contract provides HMG with the right to terminate. HMG has alleged that the company is in breach of its obligations under the Supply Agreement, but the company strenuously denies this.

“Valneva is continuing its VLA2001 development plan. Testing for the Company’s pivotal Phase 3 trial, Cov-Compare, is ongoing at Public Health England (“PHE”). Valneva recently announced that its Phase 3 results are expected to be available early in the fourth quarter and that these results will form part of its rolling submission for conditional approval of VLA2001 with the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (“MHRA”). Subject to these data and MHRA approval, Valneva believes that initial approval for VLA2001 could be granted in late 2021.

“Valneva has worked tirelessly, and to its best efforts, on the collaboration with HMG including investing significant resources and effort to respond to HMG’s requests for variant-derived vaccines. Valneva continues to be committed to the development of VLA2001 and will increase its efforts with other potential customers to ensure that its inactivated vaccine can be used in the fight against the pandemic.”

According to the Government, the cancellation of the vaccine contract with Valneva will not impact the UK’s vaccine programme or the possible booster rollout this autumn.

The UK had ordered 100 million doses of the Valneva vaccine but the French pharmaceutical firm said it had “received a termination notice” from the UK Government in relation to the supply agreement.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “You’ll appreciate this is an ongoing commercial issue, so I’m slightly restricted in what I can say. I appreciate that the company has issued a statement.

“At this point, I’m restricted as to what I can say. Broadly, you’ll know that MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) has not approved a Valneva vaccine.

“The comments from the company won’t have any impact on our vaccine supply and did not form any part of our vaccine rollout in autumn and winter.

“DH (The Department of Health) might be able to say more in due course.”

Vaccine passports scrapped but will they make a return?

Therese Coffey, Work and Pensions Secretary, confirmed that Boris Johnson will address the country on Tuesday to set out his plan for tackling the virus this winter, according to PA.

She told Sky News: “When we had a variety of regulations we said we’d go back to Parliament every six months to see if those regulations were still necessary, but also some of the ideas that we wanted to consider, and are still part of the toolbox, like vaccine passports.

“Again we said we were considering bringing these items in but it’s important that we look at exactly what benefits that will bring, and right now the Health Secretary indicated – although we haven’t made a formal decision – that he does not think it is necessary for the vaccine passports to be introduced by the end of the month.

“But the Prime Minister will be setting out tomorrow a lot more of the detail of the road map ahead, preparing for winter.”

She also recently said the idea of vaccine passports being brought in had not been “ruled out forever.”

She told BBC Breakfast: “As Sajid Javid set out yesterday, although the formal decision is still to be made, but having reflected and looked at the details of the proposal that it’s not deemed necessary at this moment in time.

“But they haven’t been ruled out forever. It’s reflecting the fact that a lot of young people have come forward and got their vaccinations over the summer.”

Boris Johnson was also asked by reporters about whether vaccine passports return if Covid infections rates and deaths continued to rise.

The Prime Minister again said he would be “setting it all out tomorrow”, but added: “What we want to do is avoid vaccine passports, if we possibly can.

“That’s the course we’re on but I think you’ve got to be prudent and you’ve got to keep things in reserve in case things change.”

When will Covid-19 vaccine boosters for 12 to 15-year-olds happen?

Professor Neil Ferguson, who is supportive of booster vaccines, said experts were seeing “slow increases in case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths.”

The scientist, from Imperial College London, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that in the absence of social distancing measures, which he did agree with, “we are reliant on immunity building up in the population.”

He added: “That happens two ways – one through vaccination, and one through people getting infected and so the faster we can roll our additional vaccination, the better in terms of stopping people getting severely ill but also in reducing transmission.”

He also said the UK had been leading in Europe on vaccination until recently but other countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Ireland “have got higher vaccination levels than us and that’s largely because they have rolled out vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds faster than us.

“They also vaccinated more recently, and we know now that vaccine effectiveness decays over time, we always expected that, and so they have more immunity in the population.

“They also principally used the Pfizer vaccine which against Delta is somewhat more effective than the AstraZeneca vaccine, so there are a set of countries in Europe with considerably more population immunity than us and I think if we want to stop the risk of the large autumn and winter wave we need to boost immunity in the population.”

Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “Two things I would like to give a reassurance on: first and foremost, even if this contract is terminated we have enough supply even for a booster programme moving forward.

“I want to give absolute confidence to anybody listening that we have the supplies necessary to continue to vaccinate, and particularly with a booster programme, hopefully, on the horizon shortly.

“The second thing, of course, is this is a blow for the facility in Livingston. We are very keen and will be reaching out to the company to try to get security and secure a future for that facility in Livingston; we hope that would be with Valneva.

“Clearly, when it comes to their supposed alleged failure to meet their contract obligations, we obviously are looking for more information from the UK Government and would expect that shortly.”

Boris Johnson said vaccine boosters for adults was “a good thing.”

But he also urged the “10 per cent or so” who still have not had any does of the jab to “please go and get one”, also directing his plea to younger people.

“Don’t forget that the vast majority of people who are suffering seriously from Covid are unvaccinated,” he added.

“Very sadly, people who are still succumbing to Covid, dying from Covid, are the unvaccinated, so please go and get your jab.”

Vaccination for 12 to 15-year-olds

Professor Neil Ferguson also told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that giving teenagers the vaccine was the priority.

However, he supports the idea of booster jabs for a wider population, saying that evidence from Israel suggests they “really are very effective at further driving down transmission and infection”.

Asked whether a further lockdown could be ruled out, he said “I hope so” but added that “you can’t rule out anything completely.”

He said he was pleased to see that measures like the working from home guidance could be retained in the Government’s Covid winter plan.

He suggested that ditching Covid passports could have a small effect on the spread of coronavirus “but it won’t be huge.”

If chief medical officer Chris Whitty approves vaccinations for teenagers, Sir Keir Starmer has said he would back it.

He said: “If the scientific advice is that it is safe then we’d go with that recommendation.

“We’d also suggest there are other mitigations in schools, such as ventilation, which should have been put in place a long time ago.”

Working from home advice to continue?

Therese Coffey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, suggested that guidance to work from home could return in an attempt to tackle the virus during the winter months, according to PA.

Asked about maintaining the work from home advice, she told BBC Breakfast that some regulations may still be needed.

“Whether that’s with what you just mentioned or making sure statutory sick pay can be paid from day one rather than day four, as tends to happen in more regular times,” she said.

“These are the sensible measures I think that we’re going to keep.”

Asked about masks, she said: "The Prime Minister will be setting out the Covid winter plan tomorrow. I think my approach, and I see that with a lot of employers organisations, is about having a situation-specific approach.