Coronavirus: Sadiq Khan not invited to emergency Cobra meeting on second UK wave
Sadiq Khan has not been invited to tomorrow’s emergency Cobra meeting, but will still speak to Boris Johnson before his key coronavirus address.
Johnson is convening the crisis meeting tomorrow with the heads of devolved governments as speculation increases that the country will be put into a second lockdown.
Cases are beginning to rise rapidly in the UK, with almost 4,000 recorded yesterday.
The Prime Minister’s address tomorrow evening may reveal that new restrictions have been brought in or that they will soon be brought in if people do not follow the current guidelines.
A source close to Khan was dismayed that the mayor was not invited to tomorrow’s Cobra meeting and said “London should not just be informed about changes to restrictions, but properly consulted”.
“We saw what happened when London wasn’t invited to Cobra at the start of the pandemic – we are a city of 10m people with unique challenges and our needs must be properly considered,” they said.
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said today that at the current rate of infection, the UK would have 50,000 new Covid cases a day in a months’ time and 200 deaths a day by November.
Chief medical officer professor Chris Whitty said that the country could be in for a tough six months, with the virus likely to spread faster in the winter period.
Whitty said that the country would have a “very serious problem” if “we do not change course”.
Health secretary Matt Hancock this morning refused to rule out the prospect of closing pubs across the country this weekend.
“We will be absolutely clear about the changes we need to make in the very, very near future,” he said.
“It’s not a no, and it’s not a yes.”