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Calls for Johnson to give a clearer response Restaurants and pubs still not shut down

- Ben Glaze, Martin Bagot And Nicola Bartlett

Boris Johnson faced demands for a clearer response to the pandemic yesterday as he again stopped short of forcing a full lockdown despite soaring deaths.

The Prime Minister and his two top coronavirus advisers again urged people to stop congregating in pubs and restaurants but still did not order the venues to shut.

The Mirror understands wider plans for a lockdown have been drawn up, but ministers have not yet worked out how they would be enforced.

Instead Mr Johnson dangled the prospect of “turning the tide” on the disease within 12 weeks if people voluntarily obey the experts. He added: “If we feel that it isn’t working and we need to bring forward tougher measures, nothing is ruled out.” He admitted the virus is “proceeding in a way that does not seem yet to be responding to our interventions”.

It came amid fears that many younger people were ignoring advice to limit social contact to slow the virus’s spread.

Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: “Unless everyone does this, it doesn’t have the effect. Mixing in pubs and restaurants is a real part of allowing the disease to spread and it needs to stop.”