Boris Johnson gave warning yesterday that tough lockdown restrictions could remain until April as the daily coronavirus death toll passed 1,000 for the first time this winter.
The prime minister said that restrictions would be lifted only “brick by brick” and that people should not expect a mass relaxation of the rules when they were reviewed on February 15.
“We are in a tough final stretch, made only tougher by the new variant,” he told the Commons. “Our emergence from the lockdown cocoon will not be a big bang but a gradual unwrapping.”
The Rev Lisa Bewick presides over the celebration of the Eucharist at Southwark Cathedral in London. Places of worship have remained open in the lockdown, although all services are socially distanced
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE
MPs backed the lockdown by 524 votes to 16 last night, despite concerns among senior Conservatives that it could last for nearly three months.
The decision came as 1,041 coronavirus deaths were
