We cant just copy Australia and button down the hatches – Shapps
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said the UK could not close down its borders to tackle coronavirus in the same way as countries such as Australia.
He told the Commons Transport Select Committee: People say why dont we just close down and then well be safe?.
But, of course, we wouldnt be safe, because we are an island nation unlike Australia or something which is an entire continent and that means that we need to get medicines in, we need to get food in, we need to get our raw materials in, sometimes we have to move people around, scientists and others.
If we werent doing these things then we simply wouldnt be combating this crisis. In fact, specifically we wouldnt have had things like the medicines that weve needed or indeed the vaccinations, some of which are manufactured in Europe, only 20 miles away at its closest point.
He added: The idea that the UK could completely button down its hatches and remain buttoned down for a year is mistaken.
But also the evidence that that is the only thing that you need to do, or even the primary thing you need to do, is also pretty shaky.
A single dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine offers around 75 per cent protection against coronavirus and significantly reduces transmission, new research suggests, in a boost to hopes that lockdown could lift by Easter.
