Day 2: Key points from Prime Minister's speech
Posted on March 2020 By Jamie Southwell
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is delivering his second speech to the public during this series of Coronavirus crisis conferences. Accompanied by Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK's Science Chief. Johnson reassuring us that "we will beat it"!
Mr Johnson says that our national health service must be put first and that we "must stop the disease from spreading to a point where is overwhelms our NHS". A real focus for the UK amidst all of this panic is to remain calm, and try to avoid public gatherings as much as possible, alongside only turning to the NHS for things that are deemed necessary.
Key points to take away from today's speech are:
Sir Patrick Vallance says that "vaccines are the answer to this and it is remarkable the progress that has been made" when asked if he believes it'll take up to 18 months for things to return to normal.
People with asthma are at a higher risk, being a part of the group that's most in danger, and should try to avoid non-essential contact if able to.
The Government will back and stand behind businesses, 330 billion pounds allocated towards this as a fund for them to be able to dip into if required. Rishi stating that it's a "economic emergency" alongside a healthcare crisis.
"I will go much further to support people's financial security" The Exchequer Chancellor says as he promises three-month mortgage holidays to the general public. Mortgage lenders will have to provide three-month mortgage holidays for those in need whilst out of work.
We're currently the 11th country with the most confirmed cases out of the world, closing in at nearly 2,000 with a total of 67 deaths so far. That's the single biggest jump within UK since the outbreak began, having an increase of 407 positive testing patients since just yesterday, a spike partially due to the fact this is also the biggest number of tests being carried out in a single day.
To read a brief summary of last night's points and important measures click here.
Here's the full conference, courtesy of HuffPost UK:
