BBC Breakfast’s Charlie Stayt criticizes the government’s Covid-19 policy

BBC Breakfast’s Charlie Stayt pointed out the obvious to Kwasi Kwarteng when the Business Secretary said the Government’s Covid-19 policy was working.

Speaking on Wednesday, as the UK has one of the highest Covid infection rates in the world, the presenter wondered why Downing Street had not yet taken action and introduced further restrictions.

Kwarteng replied: “Our approach is working.”

Stayt polled: “In what sense?

“The situation we have according to statistics – the number of infections is increasing, the mortality rate is increasing, the number of hospitalizations is increasing…

“So your policy works… in what ways?”

Watch: The business secretary says the government is resisting calls for restrictions as part of its coronavirus plan B

Hospital admission rates are six times higher in the UK and the rate of Covid-19 related deaths is three times higher compared to neighboring European countries.

Kwarteng replied: “If you look at the beginning of the year when we had a huge rate of daily deaths – now the rate, although it has increased slightly, is much lower, as is the hospitalization rate.

“This is a virus we are learning to live with.

“Without a doubt, any increase is concerning and, as I say, we monitor the data daily.

“But for now, we think this policy is working. It can be checked at any stage. We talked to the experts you cited.

“But I see no reason to change course at this time.”

Kwarteng also firmly ruled out the possibility of a future lockdown.

The government has faced repeated calls from NHS officials to switch to Plan B of its winter Covid strategy as the infection rate continues to rise. On Tuesday, the UK recorded its highest number of daily Covid-19 cases since March 2021.

The NHS Confederation wants Downing Street to introduce more mandatory face masks and limits on indoor mixing to prevent a crisis in the coldest months of the year.

However, No. 10 has rejected such allegations, despite being repeatedly accused of acting too late in the earlier pandemic.

A damning Covid report published in October found that Downing Street’s early handling of the pandemic in March 2020 was the “biggest ever public health failure” because it did not lock down the UK early enough.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.

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