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Last year was the deadliest in a century, with almost as many fatalities documented in absolute terms in England and Wales in 2020 as at the height of the flu pandemic in 1918.
More than 608,000 deaths were recorded, with 81,653 attributable to coronavirus, last year according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics.
Here are the main points from Dame Cressida Dick’s interview with the Today programme.
That is certainly something that government could consider, absolutely.
I think it would depend how it is done. With all these things, the devil is in the detail. But anything that brings greater clarity for officers and the public in general will be a good thing, of course.
I would just say that people need to try to stay local. For me, a reasonable interpretation of that is that if you can – I appreciate some people can’t, but if you can – go for your exercise from your front door and come back to your front door. That’s my view of local.
But some people will need to get in a car to get over three dual carriageways to get to where they’re going to walk dog. It is complicated, I understand that.
We don’t have the power of entry, and in fact when I’ve been asked for my advice over the last year now I have said that …. I think we can deal with most of these things [breaches of lockdown rules] without that power. And, secondly, I don’t think the general public want to know, or fear, that the police are going to come barging through their door for what might potentially be a misunderstanding, or a very, very minor infringement.
