Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson ‘stable’ and not on a ventilator, No. 10 says

• 7 April 2020, 12:19pm

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  Isabel Hardman

  Boris Johnson ‘stable’ and not on a ventilator, No. 10 says

  

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Raab will not be attending weekly audiences with the Queen while the Prime Minister is absent. We were also given details of who would take over from the Foreign Secretary if he became unwell: the Chancellor of the Exchequer is next in line.

One decision that Raab may have to announce later this week is whether the government plans to extend the current lockdown period beyond the initial three weeks that Johnson announced. The spokesman said ‘it remains the intention’ to review the efficacy and necessity of the current restrictions at the end of the three weeks. He said it was ‘too soon to be speculating’ on whether schools could re-open soon, following a UCL study which suggested school closures were only having a minimal impact on the spread of the virus.

The government is also very cagey about what sort of exit strategy it has for when the lockdown is no longer necessary. The line, repeated from yesterday, is that ministers are ‘relentlessly’ focused on the current priority of stopping the spread of the virus and that it is important to keep the public focused on the current need to stay at home and avoid other people. This does make sense on one level: if people feel the lockdown is nearing its end, they may start to flout government instructions in anticipation of that. But it is hard for businesses to plan what sort of shape they will be in if they have no idea when they will be permitted to resume their activities, or whether there will be phases to the lifting of restrictions for certain groups and certain sectors. Which is why this question is far more important then merely satisfying the personal desire for things to ‘get back to normal’, whatever normal is going to look like after this.