The infection rate in the country has been rising steeply for weeks. The Office for National Statistics now estimates that 1 in 100 people in England have Covid-19, compared with 1 in 2,300 in July and 1 in 200 at the start of October.
Johnson’s cabinet was advised that if no action was taken, the National Health Service’s bed capacity would be surpassed by the first week of December.
“Normally, advisers advise and ministers decide. Yet that system has broken down with Sage [the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] believing its advice to be more like commandments written on stone and…
