No plans for October lockdown, says UK government after false reporting

Following a newspaper report that there would be an October lockdown in the UK, the government has denied the claim.

Following a report in The i newspaper that there would be an October lockdown in the UK, the government has denied the claim.

The i newspaper reported that plans had been drawn up to make the half-term holiday longer if hospitalisations continue as they are.

The i claimed that a complete lockdown was unlikely but that the government could introduce some restrictions as part of a “fire break”. The Department for Education said the report was “not true”.

“It is not true that the government is planning a lockdown or firebreak around the October half term,” The Department for Education said in a tweet.

The prime minister’s spokesman denied the report, saying: “but these kind of measures would only be reintroduced as a last resort to prevent unsustainable pressure on our NHS”.

“I think we’ve been clear throughout that we will take action, and indeed we have done when necessary to protect our NHS,” he said.

“Look, vaccines have given us the ability to reduce infections, to save 100,000 lives,” the government’s vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC Breakfast.

“I’m not going to be arrogant and say to you this is a done deal, it’s all over, it’s fine, this virus is no longer in pandemic stage.

“But I hope through the booster programme we can transition the virus from pandemic to endemic status and deal with it year in, year out – it is going to be with us for many, many years – but not have to close down our economy or take the severe measures we had to sadly take in December of last year.”

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