Michael Gove: Coronavirus crisis has ‘a range of potential outcomes’
The UK has now been in lockdown for almost a week as the nation tries to grapple with fighting the coronavirus. The government has said that it will look again at whether to renew the current restrictions after three weeks have elapsed. Sophy Ridge asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove about how long the lockdown period could last. Gove replied that it was not ‘absolutely fixed’ and that a lot would depend on people following the official guidelines:
MG: There is a range… of potential outcomes, but those outcomes are not pre-determined. Our behaviour can influence those outcomes… And if all of us practice safe social distancing… the NHS can become better equipped to deal with this situation.
Increased coronavirus testing in NHS ‘a top priority’
Gove went on to tell Andrew Marr that the government was doing its utmost to up the provision of testing, especially to healthcare workers:
MG: We had 10,000 tests yesterday. We’ve managed to significantly increase testing, and we’ll be doing more in the course of this week… The top priority are those who are working in the National Health Service and in social care.
EU ventilator scheme is not necessary
Ventilator machines are crucial to the safety of many patients experiencing the worst effects of the coronavirus. Marr asked Gove about why the UK was not part of an EU ventilator procurement scheme:
MG: Senior figures in the NHS… have reassured me that there is nothing we can’t do as an independent nation that being part of that scheme would have allowed us to do… We have at least 8,000 ventilators coming on stream which we have managed to secure from abroad… and of course we are ramping up domestic production.
Tony Blair: ‘Perfectly possible’ to be PM in isolation
On Friday Boris Johnson announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus and was self-isolating in his flat in Downing Street. Sophy Ridge asked one of Johnson’s predecessors if the job was one that you could do from home:
TB: We’ve got the technology to be able to link people up… It’s perfectly possible to do that, but it depends how ill he is.
Rebecca Long-Bailey: ‘Number of gaps’ in government guidance
Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey criticised the government’s guidance for not doing enough to spell out what counted as essential and non-essential work, which she argued would only help to further spread the disease:
RLB: There are a number of gaps and it’s forced many workers… to choose between their health and their financial situation… There are workers right across the country this week… [whose] health is being put at significant risk.
Leadership result will be ‘a bit bizarre’
And finally, Long-Bailey confirmed that all three of Labour’s leadership hopefuls had been asked to record and submit a victory video ahead of the result, one of which will then be played this Saturday:
RLB: It’s trying to deal with these strange times and have an announcement… that our members and the public can view from their homes… It’s going to be a bit bizarre!
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