UK Prime Minister Says He Can't Rule Out Future Lockdowns

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that he “can’t rule out” plunging the nation into another lockdown if a more deadly Covid variant emerges.

He warned there could be a new variant that was more deadly or that affected children badly that needed to be contained.

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Johnson previously promised the route back to normality was ‘irreversible’, and most believed he meant that the draconian stay-at-home orders were a thing of the past.

But in an interview with GB News, the PM said it would be ‘irresponsible’ for the Government not to keep a blanket shutdown in its covid-fighting playbook. ‘I’m not going to take any options off the table.’ he said.

The Mail Online reports: He added: ‘I’m not going to take any options off the table.’

Mr Johnson added: ‘I want to avoid any such thing ever happening again.’

However, he insisted any decision on bringing back curbs must get the balance right between prioritising public health and saving lives.

Covid cases have soared to pandemic highs in England, despite official tallies having plunged over the past week because of No10’s decision to axe the £2billion-a-month mass-swabbing regime.

Respected surveillance data — which isn’t based on people coming forward for tests — estimates one in 12 people were infected at the end of March.

Daily hospital admissions are currently on par with Omicron’s January peak, although thousands of virus patients aren’t primarily ill with the virus.

Omicron’s milder nature and sky-high immunity rates, from the UK’s historic vaccine drive and repeated waves over the past two years, have drastically blunted the threat the virus poses. Government data suggests it is now no deadlier than the flu.