England Covid lockdown could be extended beyond 2 December, says Gove

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Michael Gove says England’s Covid-19 lockdown could be extended – video

The England-wide lockdown announced by Boris Johnson on Saturday could be extended beyond 2 December if the infection rate does not fall sufficiently, Michael Gove has said.

When the prime minister announced the new measures in a Saturday night press conference, he said they would end on 2 December. But Gove told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme the measures would be reviewed at the end of the period and could last longer if they had not done enough to contain the spread of the virus.

“We’ve got this four-week period, during which we’re going to review progress, but of course we’ll always be driven by the data,” Gove said. “We will always take a decision in the national interest, based on evidence.” Pressed on whether that meant the measures could be extended, he said “yes”.